THE  PRODIGAL 
DAUGHTER 

The  White  Slave  Evil  and  The  Remedy 

BY 

CLIFFORD  G.  ROE 

AUTHOR  OF  "PANDERS  AND  THEIR  WHITE  SLAVES" 


INCLUDING  SPECIAL  ARTICLES 

BY 

B.  S.  Steadwell,  Rev.J.  G.  Shearer,  Hon.  James  Bronson  Reynolds, 
J.  Frank  Chase,  Rabbi  Jacob  Nieto,  Louise  de  Koven  Bowen, 
Kate  Jane  Adams,  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A.,  Professor  Jeremiah 
W.  Jenks,  President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary, 
St.  Clair  Adams,  Leonard  A.  Watson,  Emma  F.  A.  Drake,  M.  D., 
John  B.  Hammond,  Mrs.  Freeman  E.  Brown,  Wm.  Alexander 
Coote,  Winfield  S.  Hall,  M.  D.,  Mrs.  Delia  Thompson  Lutes, 
Jessie  Phelps, Florence  Ethel  Smith,  and  Josephine  E.Young,M.D. 


THE  L.W.WALTER  COMPANY 
CHICAGO,  ILL. 


COPYRIGHT  1911 

BY 
CLIFFORD  G.    ROK 

AND 

B.   S.    STEADWELL 


DEDICATED 

To  those  stalwart  men  and  noble  women 
who  in  honor  and  love  of  humanity  are 
devoting  their  lives  to  this  cause. 

—The  Author. 


227145 


£..:,   ^:./\:   PREFACE 

and  that  very  closely.  There  is  not  a  life  that  this  social  evil 
does  not  menace.  There  is  not  a  daughter,  or  a  sister,  who  may 
not  be  in  danger. 

The  startling  details  with  which  this  book  must  deal  and  tell 
the  truth  may  seem  revolting,  and  yet  our  unwillingness  in  the 
past  to  discuss  these  very  things  and  our  attempt  at  conceal- 
ment has  unwittingly  allowed  this  horrible  business  to  grow  to 
monstrous  proportions. 

In  mentioning  specific  immoral  places  we  have  advisedly 
omitted  their  names  and  locations  that  such  places  may  not  be 
advertised  through  us.  Likewise  the  surnames  of  girls  who 
have  been  victims  of  the  slave  traders  are  omitted  and  fictitious 
given-names  substituted  for  very  obvious  reasons. 

Therefore,  earnestly  believing  that  only  through  education 
can  the  procurers  of  girls  be  finally  exterminated  and  the  foul- 
est slavery  the  world  has  ever  known  be  blotted  out,  we  have  in 
the  following  pages  written  fearlessly  and  honestly  the  truth 
concerning  the  white  slave  traffic,  and  have  brought  out  clearly 
and  thoroughly  the  schemes  and  artifices  of  the  panders. 

To  those  good  people  who  have  labored  with  me  in  writing 
this  book,  and  who  have  given  to  this  task  the  best  and  highest 
thought  and  experience,  I  am  indeed  profoundly  grateful. 

CLIFFORD  G.  BOB 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction  by  B.  S.  Steadwell 13 

Introduction  by  Rev.  J.  G.  Shearer,  Toronto,  Canada 19 

CHAPTER  I. 
HOME  SWEET  HOME. 

The  heart-rending  story  of  Mildred  Olark — At  the  Mercy  of  a  Brutal  Fiend — The 
Chain  that  Binds  them— "Onward  Christian  Soldiers"— "For  God's  Sake  come 
and  get  me" — Mildred's  Own  Story — The  Elopement — The  Broken  Marriage 
Promise — A  Prisoner  in  a  Vile  Resort — In  the  Grip  of  the  Law 27 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER. 

The  Lost  is  Found — Mildred  returns  from  the  house  of  bondage  and  joy  and  hap- 
piness reign  in  the  Old  Homestead — Gossiping  Neighbors — The  Scarlet  Letter 
— Shunned  by  all — The  "Christian"  spirit  in  Church — The  Sermon — The  hypoc- 
risy of  the  Social  World 42 

CHAPTER  III. 
OUR  DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS. 

The  False  Standard  of  Morals — One  for  the  Prodigal  Son — A  vastly  different  one 
for  the  Prodigal  Daughter — One  received  in  Society — The  other  a  social  outcast 
—There  should  be  one  Standard  for  All 53 

CHAPTER  IV. 
FROM  A  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR  OF  GIRLS. 

The  Astounding  Confession  of  Paul  Sinclair — Twelve  years  devoted  to  procuring 
girls  for  houses  of  shame — His  Redemption — Bearing  his  own  Cross — Now  one 
of  the  most  ardent  fighters  against  the  White  Slave  Traffic — A  Revolting 
Confession  , ,.....,  67 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V. 
CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS. 

Paul  Sinclair's  work  of  Atonement — His  great  fight  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio — Form- 
ing organizations  to  protect  girls — Arousing  the  church  people — A  noble  letter 
from  a  girl  saved  by  Paul— Conversion  of  other  slave  traders 82 

CHAPTER  VI. 
WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

Piteous  appeals  from  parents — "Will  you  please  help  me  find  my  daughter?" — 
The  Author's  office  besieged  daily — "If  any  one  ruined  my  sister  I  would  take 
my  own  revenge" — Every  girl  is  somebody's  daughter — Someone  loves  her — 
Every  girl  is  worth  saving — "Whose  daughter  art  thou?  Can  I  help  her?" — 
Stories  of  girls  showing  how  they  are  misled 95 

CHAPTER  VII. 
HOW  PANDERS  WORK  BETWEEN  CITIES. 

How  girls  are  lost — The  pitiful  Story  of  Anna  C — A  trade  in  human  flesh — Saved 
from  a  life  of  shame — Breaking  up  the  traffic  between  Chicago  and  St.  Louis 
— Nine  of  the  brutes  fined  and  imprisoned — How  they  work 109 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  THE  SLAVE  TRADERS. 

Address  to  the  Jury  by  the  Prosecuting  Attorney  and  the  great  fight  to  free 
the  defendant 125 

CHAPTER  IX. 

How  the  Leader  of  the  Gang  was  Convicted — The  Impassioned  Argument  of  the 
Prosecuting  Attorney  that  won  the  Fight 141 

CHAPTER  X. 
PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  FOR  CITY  RESORTS. 

Methods  of  procuring  girls  from  the  Country — "The  Drummer  Way" — "Theat- 
rical" scheme — "The  Employment  Plan"  and  "The  Love  Game" — How  to  avoid 
the  snares — Forewarned  is  forearmed — The  Parents'  Duty 154 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XI. 
LARGE  CITIES  ARE  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS. 

"The  White  Slave  Market"— Girls  for  sale  body  and  soul— The  question  of  sup- 
ply and  demand — Many  are  slaved  by  conditions  which  surround  them — The 
price— Facts  about  the  White  Slave  Market 169 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  WHITE  SLAVE  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO. 

The  appalling  exposition  of  vice,  lust  and  shame — The  human  stockyards  and  the 
slaughter  house  for  girls — The  Reign  of  Debauchery — A  night  of  horror — 
— Chicago  the  first  city  to  clean  up — The  exposition  of  vice  going  and  going 
forever  186 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PROCURING  AND  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK. 

By  Hon.  James  Bronson  Reynolds,  Asst.  Dist.  Atty.,  New  York  City. 
White    Slavery  and  Vice   in   America's   Largest   City    on  the   Increase — Public 
Aroused— How  it  Must  be  Fought 205 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  PRESENTMENT. 

The  Mistake  of  the  Press — How  the  Newspapers  throughout  the  country 
"Whitewashed"  New  York— Editorial  efforts  to  rectify  the  error— The  Pre- 
sentment—White Slavery  rampant  in  New  York— Girls  bought  for  $60  and 
$75 — Recommendations  to  stamp  out  the  evil 216 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED. 

"The  Boston  Hypocrisy" — How  the  Author  Awakened  the  New  Englanders — The 
White  Slave  Trade  Flourishing — Pandering  Around  Plymouth  Rock — Break- 
ing up  the  Panama  Gang — Heroic  work  against  the  Evil — Chained  to  a  wall — 
The  warp  and  woof  of  White  Slavery — Let  the  good  work  go  on 237 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

ARE  THERE  PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO? 

By  Rev.  Jacob  Nieto,  Rabbi  Congregation  Sherith  Israel,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
How  this  City  is  Used  as  a  Port  of  Entry— Traders  and  Their  "Wares" — Travel- 
ing with  "Samples"— Stamping  Out  White  Slavery 253 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
FROM  THE  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC. 

The  War  Against  White  Slavery  in  Many  States — The  Unrelenting  Battle  Now 
raging  from  Coast  to  Coast — Panders  brought  to  Justice  in  Many  Cities 261 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  FOR  WHITE  SLAVERY. 

The  Disreputable  Dance  Hall — Some  Unknown  Statistics — A  Great  Evil — The 
Remedy — Other  Causes — Prominent  Women  in  the  Fight 281 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST  ALTOGETHER? 
By  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A. 

The  Christian  Spirit  Toward  the  Erring  Ones — Bishop  Vincent's  address — "For 
God's  Sake  Save  Me"— The  Prayer  of  a  Fallen  Woman 298 

CHAPTER  XX. 

SEGREGATION  VERSUS  ELIMINATION. 
By  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A. 

The  Theory  of  Segregation — Defended  by  People  of  High  Character — What  it 
Really  is— A  District  Where  White  Slave  Traders  May  Operate  Their  Im- 
moral Houses  Without  Fear  of  the  Law— The  Red  Mill  and  What  it  Grinds- 
Elimination  of  Vice  the  Only  Remedy 305 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS. 
By  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A. 

Liquor  and  Lust — The  Inseparable  Twins — The  Saloon  and  the  Brothel  the  Arch- 
Destroyer  of  Women— Vice  Cannot  Exist  Without  Drink— The  Tragedy  of 
Lotty — True  Stories  and  Incidents  Gathered  in  the  Underworld  of  Vice 
and  Shame  , 319 

10 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW. 

Short  Articles  on  the  White  Slave  Evil  by  Professor  Jeremiah  W.  Jenks,  Cornell 
University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.;  G.  Stanley  Hall,  President,  Clark  University,  Wor- 
cester, Mass.;  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary,  Pastor  Church  of  the  Incarnation,  Min- 
neapolis, Minn.;  St.  Clair  Adams,  District  Attorney,  New  Orleans,  La.;  Leon- 
ard A.  Watson,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 329 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  AND  COURT  DECISIONS. 

Ammunition  for  Those  Fighting  the  White  Slave  Cases  in  Courts— Model  Laws 
for  Legislatures,  etc 340 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  IOWA  "RED  LIGHT"  INJUNCTION  LAW. 

How  the  Great  Prairie  State  Cleaned  Out  the  Vice  Districts— Accomplished  by 
Special  Legislation — The  Law  that  Made  it  Possible 358 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

AMERICA'S   AWAKENING.  WOMEN   IN   THE   CRUSADE  TO   PROTECT    THE 

HOME. 

The  fairest  heritage  in  life  being  undermined  by  a  hideous  monster  known  as 
White  Slavery— The  Greatest  Fight  the  World  has  ever  Known— Who  are 
doing  the  fighting — Our  weapons — Publicity,  .  Education,  Enlightenment — 
What  America's  Women  are  Doing  in  the  Fight 371 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  CHICAGO  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT. 

Astounding  Facts— Chicago  Spends  $15,000,000  Annually  for  Vice— 5,000  Young 
Girls  Destroyed  Every  Year  in  White  Slavery — Bad  Homes  a  Cause — Tempta- 
tions of  Young  Girls — Changes  recommended 381 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS. 

By  Wm.  Alexander  Coote,  Sec'y  National  Vigilance  Association,  London,  England. 

The  First  International  Congress  for  the  Suppression  of  the  White  Slave  Traffic 
held  in  Madrid,  Spain — Twenty-four  Nations  represented — Treaty  Signed — 
All  nations  except  Turkey,  agree  to  co-operate  to  search  for,  find  and  return 
to  their  native  land  all  victims  of  the  traffic  and  to  capture  the  heartless 
White  Slave  Traders 398 

11 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

WHAT  THE  DOCTORS  ARE  DOING. 

By  B.  S.  Steadwell. 

The  fallacy  of  the  past — The  splendid  work  of  today — The  fight  on  social  dis- 
eases— The  Brussels  Conference — Educating  the  Public — "The  Conspiracy  of 
Silence"— The  work  of  the  State  Boards  of  Health— Horrible  facts  that  must 
be  known  and  methods  of  prevention 405 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
FACTS  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  SHOULD  KNOW. 

The  Importance  of  Teaching  Social  Hygiene  in  Early  Childhood — Necessary  part 
of  the  Equipment  of  every  young  person — The  duty  of  Parents  and  Teachers 
—The  Child's  Right  to  a  Knowledge  of  Sex  from  the  Standpoint  of  the 
Parent,  the  Educator,  the  Physician  and  Religion 410 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
"AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION  WORTH  A  POUND  OF  CURE." 

By  B.  S.  Steadwell,  Pres.  American  Purity  Federation— Editor  of  "The  Light." 
"Why  didn't  mother  tell  me,"  the  pathetic  tale  of  a  young  girl  and  the  awful 
result  of  ignorance — "If  Dad  had  only  told  me  about  these  things" — How  a 
young  man's  life  was  ruined — "Wild  oats"  and  what  they  bring 436 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT. 

By  B.  S.  Steadwell,  Pres.  American  Purity  Federation— Editor  of  "The  Light." 
The  Social  Evil  the  World's  Greatest  Sin — The  Purity  Movement — Origin  and 
Growth — Organized  to  battle  and  set  the  White  Slaves  of  vice  free — Interna- 
tional in  Scope — The  Pledge — Organizing  branches  in  every  church  in  the 
Country — The  Purity  Movement  destined  to  be  the  greatest  force  for  good  in 
the  World  442 


12 


INTRODUCTION 

When  in  1885  William  T.  Stead  published  his  fa- 
mous expose  of  London  immorality  and  vice  in  the  "Pall 
Mall  Gazette,"  and  when  a  few  years  later  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Charles  N.  Crittenton,  Mrs.  Charlton 
Edholm  published  her  widely  circulated  book  in  this 
country,  "The  Traffic  in  Girls, "  and  when  both  de- 
clared that  there  existed  an  actual  trade  in  our  girls 
whereby  they  were  trapped,  ensnared,  and  sold  into 
houses  of  shame,  and  there  virtually  imprisoned,  the 
world  was  shocked  and  startled,  but  it  gave  little  heed, 
and,  indeed,  did  little  more  than  pause  long  enough  to 
ask  "Can  these  things  be  true?"  It  is  a  splendid  com- 
mentary upon  the  honor  and  love  held  in  human  breasts 
to  now  be  able  to  say  that  there  were  at  once  volunteers 
of  stalwart  men  and  noble  women  who  immediately  took 
up  the  challenge  implied  in  the  question  and  set  about 
such  a  study  and  investigation  of  the  problem  as  should 
prove  absolutely  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  charges. 
Today  there  is  not  a  man  or  woman  in  the  world  who 
has  given  reasonable  consideration  to  the  question,  but 
knows  that  their  accusations  were  in  the  main  true  and 
that  there  does  now  exist  this  nefarious  trade  in  the  bod- 
ies and  souls  of  women. 

Still  the  great  body  of  men  and  women  have  not  had 
the  opportunity  of  personal  investigation,  and  it  is  well 
that  they  have  not,  nor  have  they  been  afforded  the 

13 


INTRODUCTION 

means  of  studying  the  problems  involved.  Therefore, 
we  who  are  devoting  our  lives  to  this  cause  frequently 
are  met  with  expressed  doubt  as  to  the  actual  existence 
of  a  traffic  in  girls  and  women  for  immoral  purposes,  and 
it  is  not  unusual  to  be  told,  "HI  were  convinced  that 
girls  are  trapped,  ensnared,  deceived,  and  sold  into  dens 
of  vice,  I  would  not  rest  until  the  evil  is  destroyed. ' '  It 
is,  consequently,  as  much  the  duty  of  those  who  hold  the 
facts  relative  to  this  matter  to  make  them  widely  known, 
as  it  is  the  duty  of  those  who  possess  only  meagre  knowl- 
edge to  seek  out  the  whole  truth.  Within  the  past  few 
years  proof  has  come  through  our  courts,  been  given 
sworn  testimony  before  Grand  Juries  and  investigating 
committees,  and  collected  by  reformers  and  private  in- 
vestigators, which  enables  us  positively  to  affirm  that 
there  is  both  a  national  and  an  international  traffic  in 
girls  and  women  for  purposes  of  vice,  that  the  traffick- 
ers are  more  or  less  closely  associated,  and  that  this 
trade  is  amply  financed  and  thoroughly  systematized. 
Very  much  of  this  evidence  is  presented  in  this  volume, 
but  we  here  wish  to  call  attention  to  one  pronouncement 
that  has  more  than  usual  weight. 

By  special  act  of  Congress  of  February  20,  1907,  a 
Commission  was  created  consisting  of  three  Senators, 
three  members  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
three  persons  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  to  make  a  full  inquiry,  examination  and  inves- 
tigation into  the  subject  of  immigration.  The  Com- 
mission organized  the  following  April  by  electing  Sen- 
ator William  P.  Dillingham  of  Vermont,  chairman,  the 
other  eight  members  being  men  of  acknowledged  ability 
and  fitness  for  the  work.  One  of  the  principal  duties  of 

u 


INTRODUCTION 

this  Commission  was  to  investigate  the  alleged  importa- 
tion of  foreign  girls  and  women  into  this  country  for  im- 
moral purposes.  The  Commission  was  given  full  power 
to  make  the  most  sweeping  and  thorough  investigation 
both  in  this  country  and  in  foreign  lands,  ample  funds 
were  appropriated,  and  other  departments  of  our  gov- 
ernment were  at  its  service.  After  more  than  two  years 
of  work,  the  Commission  presented  the  following  conclu- 
sion to  Congress,  and  this  part  of  their  report,  we  un- 
understand,  was  unanimously  concurred  in: 

"The  Commission's  investigation  of  the  importation  of  women  for  im- 
moral purposes,  commonly  known  as  the  'white  slave  traffic'  disclosed  the 
fact  that  this  business  is  regularly  carried  on  between  some  European 
countries  and  the  United  States.  There  is  a  considerable  movement  of 
prostitutes  to  this  country,  but  the  most  serious  phase  of  the  situation  is 
the  traffic  in  women  and  girls  through  both  male  and  female  procurers 
who  make  a  regular  business  of  importing  alien  women  for  houses  of 
prostitution,  as  well  as  for  the  large  number  of  foreign-born  pimps  who 
control  these  women  and  live  upon  the  proceeds  of  their  prostitution.  As 
a  result  of  the  work  and  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Immigration 
Commission  Congress  has  already  passed  a  law  that  if  vigorously  enforced 
will  do  much  to  minimize  the  evil." 

In  1897  and  1898,  the  writer  conducted  an  examina- 
tion into  the  actual  number  of  girls  and  women  who  were 
at  that  time  inmates  of  houses  of  ill-fame  in  the  United 
States.  This  information  was  felt  to  be  necessary  in 
building  a  proper  foundation  for  an  effective  work  of  re- 
form. Correspondence  and  interviews  were  had  with 
mayors,  chiefs  of  police,  reformers  and  ministers  in  cit- 
ies of  25,000  inhabitants  and  over.  From  the  facts 
thus  gathered  we  estimated  the  number  of  professional 
prostitutes  in  this  country  at  that  time  to  be  300,000, 
which  figure  we  felt  to  be  conservative,  indeed.  These 

15 


figures  since  their  publication  have  been  generally  ac- 
cepted and  used  by  writers  and  speakers  upon  the  sub- 
ject. Our  highest  authorities  state  that  the  average  life 
of  women  in  prostitution  is  five  years,  and  our  ex- 
perience leads  us  to  accept  this  estimate  as  very  nearly 
correct.  We  do  not  state  that  they  always  die  within 
five  years,  though  many  of  them  succumb  to  the  hor- 
rors of  the  life  and  the  accompanying  disease,  drugs 
and  drink  in  much  less  time;  some  leave  the  life  for 
honorable  work  or  return  home,  a  few  are  married,  some 
are  rescued,  but  whatever  the  cause  of  their  departure 
from  the  miserable  life,  the  result  is  always  the  same, 
— for  every  one  that  gets  out  of  the  ranks  another  vic- 
tim is  required  to  take  her  place,  and  occasionally  a  new 
inmate  is  added  to  provide  for  increasing  patronage. 
Accepting  these  estimates  as  approximately  correct,  we 
see  that  at  least  60,000  girls  and  women  are  required 
every  year,  or  5,000  every  month  to  provide  for  the  con- 
stant demand  of  the  public  houses  of  shame.  Here  then 
is  the  source  and  the  unmistakable  proof  of  a  White 
Slave  Traffic.  These  market  places  for  our  girls  exist 
in  nearly  every  city  in  this  fair  land. 

Persons  of  sound  judgment  and  unquestioned  honor 
may  and  do  differ  in  their  views  as  to  the  Social  Evil, 
and  while  all  honorable  people  deplore  it,  the  possibility 
of  its  extermination  is  questioned.  But  the  White  Slave 
Trade  is  not  a  private  vice,  it  is  a  public  business.  We 
cannot  for  an  instant  believe  that  the  ungovernable  pas- 
sions of  men  demand  its  continuance.  It  is  purely  a 
commercialized  institution;  its  incentive  is  not  lust  but 
greed,  and  as  a  business  it  is  and  ever  must  be  dependent 
upon  civic  recognition,  legal  or  illegal  regulation,  and 

16 


THE  FIRST  MEETING. 

The  white  slave  trader,  skilled  in  the  arts  and  wiles  of  flattery,  accost- 
ing a   young  girl   on   the   street. 


INTRODUCTION 

police  sanction  and  protection.  No  one  can  doubt  that 
with  the  enactment  of  proper  laws  and  their  enforce- 
ment, which  can  and  will  come  through  the  demands  of 
our  people  as  light  is  given,  that  vice  as  a  public  busi- 
ness which  consumes  60,000  of  our  girls  each  year,  can 
be  suppressed.  This  has  already  been  accomplished  to 
a  remarkable  degree  in  the  State  of  Iowa  under  the 
operation  of  the  Injunction  and  Abatement  Law. 

The  traffic  in  girls  relies  entirely  for  its  existence  and 
maintenance  upon  the  secrecy  of  its  operations  and  the 
knowledge  that  its  filthiness  protects  it  from  open  con- 
sideration and  public  discussion.  It  thrives  only  in 
darkness.  It  does  not  ask  to  be  known.  In  its  prosper- 
ity it  has  forgotten  that  it  is  engaged  in  the  most  dam- 
nable business  extant;  that  its  victims  in  their  very 
frenzy  of  despair  cannot  keep  still,  nor  the  loved  ones  of 
the  ensnared  remain  silent;  that  false  modesty  and  pru- 
dery can  no  longer  shield  it  from  the  light  that  will 
divulge  its  hidden  life.  With  respect  to  this  plague  the 
following  words  from  an  accomplished  woman  no  longer 
apply:  "To  such  grievances  as  society  cannot  readily 
cure,  it  usually  forbids  utterance  on  pain  of  its  scorn; 
this  scorn  being  only  a  sort  of  tinseled  cloak  to  its  de- 
formed weakness." 

The  time  has  come  when  to  longer  remain  silent  would 
be  a  crime.  And  the  hopeful  thing  about  this  movement 
against  White  Slavery  is  that  our  people  are  ready  for 
the  message.  We  have  had  revelations  of  this  traffic, 
some  of  them  sound  and  good,  but  by  far  the  larger 
number  have  been  of  a  sensational  and  exaggerated 
nature.  This  has  turned  many  from  the  subject  in  dis- 
gust, and  helped  to  increase  doubt  as  to  the  accuracy  of 

17 


INTRODUCTION 

the  statements  in  truly  meritorious  works.  Honorable 
Clifford  GL  Eoe,  the  leading  author  in  this  book,  through 
his  former  position  as  Assistant  State's  Attorney,  and 
his  later  extensive  investigations  and  prosecutions  of 
White  Slave  traders,  is  undoubtedly  the  best  informed 
man  in  North  America  on  this  question,  and  is,  there- 
fore, the  best  qualified  to  write  or  speak  upon  it.  Mr. 
Eoe  writes  from  his  personal  experiences.  He  deals  in 
facts.  His  recommendations  or  suggested  remedies, 
whether  along  legislative  lines  or  in  educational  methods, 
for  the  suppression  of  this  traffic,  being  founded  upon 
fact  rather  than  theory  and  sentiment,  will  prove  ef- 
fective. 

I  am  confident  that  the  world  is  ready  for  this  book, 
and  that  widely  distributed  and  earnestly  read  by  our 
people,  it  will  prove  one  of  the  most  effective  weapons 
in  the  present  war  for  the  overthrow  of  that  colossal  dis- 
grace,— the  traffic  in  girls,  and  for  the  conservation  of 
the  purity  of  our  homes. 

B.  S.  STEADWELL. 

La  Crosse,  Wisconsin,  March  1, 1911. 


18 


INTRODUCTION 

By  J.  G.  Shearer,  D.  D. 
Secretary  Board  of  Moral  and  Social  Reform,  Toronto,  Canada. 

This  book  can  do  only  good.  The  extent  of  the  good 
it  does  will  be  measured  by  its  circulation,  which  I  ear- 
nestly hope  will  break  all  records.  At  last  the  great  pub- 
lic is  coming  to  recognize  that  there  is  a  White  Slave  Traf- 
fic, infinitely  more  inhuman  than  the  black  slave  traffic, 
for  the  suppression  of  which  so  much  of  America's  best 
blood  was  willingly  shed  half  a  century  ago.  Probably 
no  man  on  the  continent  has  put  more  of  head  and  heart 
and  conscience  into  the  exposure  and  suppression  of  the 
White  Slave  Traffic  than  Clifford  G.  Eoe.  He  might  well 
be  known  to  History  as  the  William  Lloyd  Garrison  of 
the  movement.  The  Twentieth  Century  bids  fair  to  be 
the  Century  of  Moral  Eeform  and  of  Social  Service.  It 
is  Providential  that  in  the  opening  decade  of  the  Cen- 
tury the  Christian  forces  have  been  summoned  to  wage 
war  to  the  death  on  this  terrible  traffic  in  girls  for  im- 
moral purposes,  and  that  they  seem  so  ready  to  respond 
to  the  summons. 

In  this  war  on  the  White  Slave  Traffic  there  is  an  op- 
portunity that  the  Christian  world  has  never  before  had, 
for  the  arousing  of  the  conscience  of  Christendom  in  the 
interests  of  the  poor,  the  weak,  the  foolish,  the  op- 
pressed, the  exploited.  And  to  arouse  the  Christian  con- 
science in  the  interests  of  any  one  class  of  these,  means 

10 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.  SHEARER,  D.  D. 

that  ever  afterwards  this  conscience  will  be  doubly  sen- 
sitive to  any  summons  to  serve,  in  the  name  of  Him  who 
came  "not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister,"  any 
other  class  needing  such  service.  Hence,  as  I  conceive 
it,  every  other  moral  and  social  reform  stands  to  gain 
immeasurably  through  this  great  effort  to  suppress  the 
traffic  in  girls.  This  consideration  makes  the  responsi- 
bility resting  upon  the  shoulders  of  every  Christian  man 
and  woman  in  the  United  States  or  in  Canada,  to  do  his 
or  her  utmost  for  the  suppression  of  this  traffic,  and  for 
the  preaching  and  practice  of  purity  in  all  its  aspects, 
many  fold  great. 

It  may  be  profitable  to  enumerate  the  principal  causes, 
or  contributory  conditions  making  such  a  traffic  possible. 
These,  as  I  conceive  it,  are — 

1.  Ignorance;  (a)  Ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  great 
easy-going  public  loath  to  believe  in  so  disturbing  an 
actuality;  (b)  Ignorance  on  the  part  of  parents  of  the 
perils  threatening  their  daughters  whom  they  in  conse- 
quence often  permit  to  go  unchaperoned  to  the  city  to 
earn  their  livelihood;  (c)  Ignorance  on  the  part  of  the 
girls  themselves  (as  also  of  the  boys)  of  the  purposes 
and  problems  and  perils  of  sex. 

2.  The  double  standard  of  morals. 

The  woman  is  "  scarlet "  and  an  outcast,  merci- 
lessly ostracised  by  society.  The  man  retains  the  en- 
tree to  the  homes  of  his  own  circle,  as  before  his  sin. 

The  female  prostitute  is  prosecuted  with  all  rigor. 
Her  male  patron  is  permitted  to  go  scot  free,  or  is  al- 
lowed to  pay  a  fine  in  private.  Naturally,  therefore, 
boys  grow  up  to  regard  vice  on  their  part  as  a  compara- 
tively innocent  thing. 

20 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.  SHEARER,  D.  D. 

For  this  condition  of  things,  women  must  be  held 
largely  responsible.  They  determine  the  standards  of 
social  ethics. 

But  whoever  is  to  blame,  the  White  Slave  Trade  will 
continue  as  long  as  this  double  standard  remains.  It 
creates  the  demand  in  a  large  part  for  the  victims  of  that 
traffic. 

3.  Immoral   literature   and  obscene   and   suggestive 
pictures. 

Few  things  do  as  much  as  this  subsidiary  trade  to 
create  the  demand  for  the  victims  which  the  White  Slave 
Trade  furnishes.  The  havoc  to  purity  in  boys  and  men 
wrought  by  this  mental  and  moral  poison  is  terrible  to 
contemplate.  Mr.  Anthony  Comstock  has  earned  the 
gratitude  of  the  Nations  of  North  America  by  his  life- 
long and  effective  fight  to  protect  the  boys, — and  there- 
fore the  girls — of  these  Nations. 

Ought  not  every  good  man  and  woman  to  join  in  this 
fight?  Is  any  criminal  more  dastardly  and  deserving  of 
the  severest  penalties  law  can  impose  than  the  man  who 
for  paltry  pelf  pours  the  deadliest  moral  poison  into  the 
eyes  and  ears  of  boyhood  at  the  age  when  it  is  most  sus- 
ceptible to  such  poison? 

4.  Immoral  or  unclean  Amusements.     Not  all  dra- 
matic performances  are  immoral,  but  enough  of  the  sa- 
lacious and  suggestive  appears  on  the  stage,  and  is  at  al- 
most any  time  liable  to  appear,  to  make  it  perilous  for 
the  young  to  patronize  that  institution. 

What  is  true  of  the  regular  theatre  is  true  also  of  the 
cheaper  shows,  the  moving  picture  places,  and  the  auto- 
matic entertaining  machines.  They  need  censoring. 
Not  a  few  of  both  boys  and  girls  have  received  loose  or 

21 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.  SHEARER,  D.  D. 

definitely  immoral  ideas  in  these  places.  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller, Jr.,  speaking  for  the  New  York  Grand  Jury,  lists 
them,  cheap  restaurants,  dance-halls,  and  bargain  coun- 
ters are  the  principal  baiting  grounds  of  those  engaged 
in  the  nefarious  traffic  of  girl-hunting. 

5.  Economic  Conditions. 

Many  girls  become  victims  of  this  traffic  under  a  spe- 
cies of  economic  necessity  or  almost  irresistible  tempta- 
tion. They  work  long  hours.  They  work  in  unhealthful 
atmosphere  and  environment.  They  are  insufficiently 
remunerated.  As  a  consequence  they  become  weakened 
in  body,  and  discouraged  in  spirit,  and  suffer  in  mind  to 
such  extent  that  when  persistently  tempted  by  employ- 
ers, work-mates,  or  casual  acquaintances  they  are  led 
to  sell  virtue  in  the  interests  of  comfort.  The  day  of 
trouble  and  exposure  comes.  It  is  easy  for  the  heartless 
slaver  to  induce  them  then  to  go  into  a  new  business. 

I  am  informed  on  what  I  believe  to  be  reliable  author- 
ity that  in  times  of  unemployment  large  numbers  of  girls 
and  women  of  the  numerous  very  poor  foreign  families 
in  New  York  City,  practise  prostitution  to  tide  them  and 
those  dependent  on  them  over  periods  of  distress.  No 
doubt  this  is  by  no  means  confined  to  New  York. 

6.  The  segregation  or  toleration  of  prostitution. 
The  business  of  vice  is  rarely  if  ever  permitted  either 

under  law  or  in  spite  of  law  excepting  on  some  form  of 
the  claim  of  "  necessity, "  physiological  necessity  or 
practical  necessity — necessity  in  order  to  save  men  of 
strong  passions  from  something  worse,  or  necessity  in 
order  to  make  it  safe  for  respectable  women  and  girls  to 
go  about  with  reasonable  freedom.  Of  course  if  it  is 
" necessary"  for  men  to  consort  with  prostitutes,  it  is 

22 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.   SHEARER,  D.  D. 

"  necessary "  also  to  permit  prostitution  and  as  well  to 
supply  prostitutes.  Hence  the  White  Slave  Trade  is 
" necessary "  and  justifiable!  Logic  compels  the  advo- 
cates of  toleration  to  go  to  this  limit.  Are  then  some 
girls — 60,000  per  year — to  be  sacrificed  and  condemned 
to  this  earthly  Hell  to  gratify  the  lust  of  some  men  and 
to  save  other  girls  from  assault  by  these  human  beasts? 
Can  democracy  find  no  other  way  of  controlling  its 
strong  and  protecting  its  weak  members  ?  If  not,  whose 
fair,  tenderly  loved  daughters  are  to  be  taken?  Let  the 
tolerationists  answer.  Will  they  give  their  own?  Will 
they  have  the  effrontery  to  ask  for  yours  or  mine? 
Moreover,  the  segregated  or  tolerated  colony  of  vice  is 
a  necessary  adjunct  of  the  White  Slave  Trade.  It  is  the 
market  place  of  the  traffic.  Where  else  can  its  victims 
be  disposed  of?  Where  can  they  be  hidden  or  held  and 
exploited?  In  all  my  experience  in  connection  with  this 
traffic,  I  have  never  known  slavers  to  take'or  to  seek  to 
dispose  of  a  single  victim  anywhere  but  in  a  City  where 
vice  was  tolerated.  Suppress  the  market  and  you  de- 
stroy the  traffic,  or  make  it  impossible ! 

The  reader  will  find  many  reliable  suggestions  in  the 
body  of  this  book.  It  may  be  equally  profitable,  how- 
ever, to  enumerate  for  emphasis,  the  following: 

Legislation  may  from  time  to  time  be  found  to  be 
necessary  and  should  be  sought.  And  no  reform  legis- 
lation will  be  more  easily  obtained. 

Punitive  effort  is  not  only  defensible  but  necessary. 
Only  the  fear  of  punishment  will  deter  procurers  or  pro- 
curesses, or  "cadets"  or  the  hardened  "madames" 
who  are  keepers  of  dens  of  infamy.  They  are  not  en- 
titled to  consideration  at  the  hands  of  society.  They 

23 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.  SHEARER,  D.  D. 

ought  to  be  relentlessly  pursued  and  prosecuted  in  the 
interests  alike  of  social  welfare  and  for  the  sake  of  those 
whom  they  have  so  cold-bloodedly  victimized,  and  in 
many  cases  procure  and  sell  and  hold  as  slaves. 

Moreover,  as  every  one  experienced  in  direct  dealing 
with  those  who  have  for  any  reason  been  led  to  make  com- 
merce of  sex,  have  said  over  their  signature,  it  is  only 
when  the  law  is  being  enforced  rigorously  against  them 
that  there  is  any  use  offering  refuge  to  these  wretched 
girls.  It  is  only  when  in  sore  trouble  that  they  are  open 
to  the  ministry  of  mercy.  Experience  almost  uniformly 
demonstrates  this. 

But  Redemptive  effort  should  always  accompany  puni- 
tive effort.  The  hearts  of  all  true  followers  of  Jesus 
should  yearn  to  rescue  and  restore  and  save  the  women 
— and  the  men —  of  the  underworld.  Whether  they  have 
gone  involuntarily  or  under  the  coercion  of  cunning  or 
force,  we  must  open  to  them  the  door  of  hope  and  extend 
to  them  the  hand  of  help  and  deliverance. 

To  this  end,  there  ought  to  be  in  every  city  or  district 
some  house  of  refuge  whose  door  is  ever  open  to  the 
penitent  Magdalene,  whether  her  sin  has  been  secret 
or  open. 

Moreover,  there  ought  to  be  in  every  Province  or  State 
some  institution  under  Christian  care,  to  which  the  im- 
penitent can  be  sent  under  the  authority  of  law,  and 
given  a  chance  under  fair  conditions  to  get  free  from  the 
bondage  of  the  life  of  vice. 

But  Preventive  effort  is  more  important  than  either 
Punitive  or  Redemptive.  This  needs  no  arguing. 

What  can  we  do  to  prevent  the  daughters  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada  or  other  nations  living  among  us, 

24 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.  SHEARER,  D.  D. 

getting  into  the  life  of  shame?    That  is  the  question  of 
questions  in  this  connection. 

The  following  suggestions  are  offered: 

(1)  It  would  seem  that  while   something  is  being 
done,  more  is  required  by  the  immigration  authorities 
in  discovering  and  bringing  to  justice  those  engaged  in 
victimizing  girls  of  other  nations,  and  bringing  them 
into  the  States  or  Canada,  for  immoral  purposes.     A 
constant  agitation  should  be  kept  up,  with  this  end  in 
view. 

(2)  Let  preachers,  pressmen,  teachers,  parents,  and 
moral  reformers  persistently  proclaim  the  single  stand- 
ard of  morals — holding  the  man  equally  with  the  woman 
responsible  in  all  cases  of  social  vice,  whether  open  or 
secret.     For  every  fallen  woman  there  is  at  least  one 
ii fallen  man."    Why  ostracize  the  one  and  continue  to 
honor  the  other? 

(3)  Warn  women  and  girls  of  the  perils  to  which  the 
young  are  exposed.     Most  victims  are  utterly  ignorant 
of  danger.    The  pulpit,  the  platform,  and  the  press  may 
and  ought  to  lead  in  sounding  the  note  of  warning.    Lit- 
erature like  this  should  reach  every  home. 

(4)  In  every  large  City  or  industrial  centre,  Travel- 
lers' Aid  Work  should  be  systematically  and  faithfully 
done.     It  should  be  made  impossible  for  any  lone  girl 
to  arrive  at  any  city  railway  station  or  on  any  wharf 
without  being  offered  the  protection  and  guidance  of  a 
sister  woman  recognizable  by  her  costume  or  badge. 

(5)  Christian  and  social  service  workers  in  every 
city  should  make  up  and  advertise  a  list  of  inspected  and 
safe   and   comfortable   boarding   houses   for  girls   and 
women  wage-earners.    This  is  vital. 

25 


INTRODUCTION  BY  REV.  J.  G.  SHEARER,  D.  D. 

(6)  Though  it  may  be  difficult  and  delicate  and  often 
unpleasant  work  it  is  becoming  absolutely  essential  that 
the  young  of  both  sexes  be  instructed  in  the  purpose  and 
problems  and  perils  of  sex,  including  information  as  to 
the  awful  penalty  nature  imposes,  in  the  form  of  social 
diseases,  such  as  syphilis  and  gonorrhoea,  well  desig- 
nated the  Black  Plague,  upon  those  who  violate  her  laws 
of  sex,  and  not  only  upon  the  guilty,  but  upon  the  inno- 
cent and  pure  with  whom  these  guilty  afterwards  wed. 

(7)  To  give  any  sort  of  general  effect  to  these  sug- 
gestions, organization  is  essential.    What  is  everybody's 
business  is  nobody 's  business  and  will  not  be  done. 

In  every  center  therefore  there  should  be  a  Committee 
or  Society  for  promoting  this  work. 

May  Mr.  Koe's  court-proven  information  and  prac- 
tical suggestions  be  owned  and  blessed  of  God  to  the 
saving  of  countless  tenderly  loved  mothers'  daughters 
and  to  the  promotion  of  purity  among  the  men  and  boys 
of  this  new  world  and  thus  share  in  hastening  the  day 
of  the  universal  rule  of  Him  who  alone  is  truly  pure. 

J.  G.  SHEAEEB. 
Toronto,  Canada,  March  1st,  1911, 


Horror  of 
The  White  Slave  Traffic 


CHAPTER  I. 

HOME,  SWEET  HOME. 

The  heart-rending  story  of  Mildred  C.— At  the  Mercy  of  a  Brutal  Fiend— 
The  Chain  that  Binds  them — "Onward  Christian  Soldiers" — "For  God's 
Sake  come  and  get  me"— Mildred's  Own  Story— The  Elopement— The 
Broken  Marriage  Promise — A  Prisoner  in  a  Vile  Resort— In  the  Grip  of 
the  Law. 

Mid  pleasures  and  palaces  tho'  we  may  roam, 

Be  it  ever  so  humble,  there's  no  place  like  home. 

A  charm  from  the  skies  seems  to  hallow  us  there, 

Which  seek  thro'  the  world,  is  ne'er  met  with  elsewhere. 

Home,  home,  sweet,  sweet  home, 

There's  no  place  like  home. 

There 's  no  place  like  home.  These  were  the  words  the  quiver- 
ing, feverish  lips  tried  to  form,  but  the  faltering  voice  chocked 
them  into  inaudible  sobs.  Yes,  she  would  try  to  sing  and  try 
not  to  cry,  for  she  must  not  cry.  She  had  been  forbidden  to  cry 
again.  That  old  song  makes  me  so  homesick,  she  whispered  to 
herself.  Then  half  forgetting — she  cried  almost  aloud — Oh, 
God,  why  don't  they  come  and  get  me.  This  piteous  appeal  was 
made  by  Mildred  Clark,  as  she  sat  with  arms  upon  a  little  dress- 
ing table  resting  her  head  upon  her  hands  and  peering  into  the 
mirror  in  front  of  her.  Mildred  presented  a  pathetic  picture. 
The  once  full  round  pretty  face  was  shallow  and  drawn.  She 
was  sitting  on  a  little  mahogany  stool  with  her  right  leg  resting 
over  her  left  knee.  The  afternoon  was  drawing  on  and  she  had 
just  arisen  and  was  preparing  to  dress.  Clothed  in  soft,  filmy 

27 


28  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

lingerie,  silk  stockings  and  satin  bedroom  slippers  she  had  the 
appearance  of  a  girl  living  in  luxury  and  happiness.  But  the 
mirror  told  her  a  different  story.  Surrounded  with  a  certain 
air  of  luxury  perhaps,  she  was  anything  but  happy.  As  she 
gazed  at  herself  in  the  mirror  she  could  hardly  believe  her  eyes. 
Was  that  the  same  Mildred  Clark  who  just  a  short  time  before 
reached  her  seventeenth  birthday?  Why  she  looked  so  much 
older  that  in  her  surprise  and  dismay  she  dropped  the  black 
stick  with  which  she  was  penciling  her  eyebrows  and  nearly 
knocked  the  rouge  and  paint  boxes  off  the  dressing  table.  She 
had  been  humming  to  herself  the  good  old  tune  familiar  to  all 
of  us,  Home,  Sweet  Home,  and  it  was  at  this  moment  that  she 
choked  and  sobbed,  and  cried  out  "Oh,  God,  why  don't  they 
come  and  get  me."  Moaning  these  words  she  sat  motionless 
and  apparently  gazing  upon  herself  in  the  glass  she  stared 
unconsciously  into  the  past.  Before  her  eyes  came  the  vision 
of  home.  She  looked  back  to  the  days  of  yore — to  the  days 
when  she  experienced  real  happiness.  She  saw  the  face  of  her 
loving  father  and  felt  once  more  the  kindly  hand  of  her  tender 
mother.  Then,  as  she  looked,  she  saw  those  other  things  that 
went  to  make  for  happiness  in  childhood ;  there  was  the  sitting 
room  in  the  old  homestead;  she  saw  the  big  log  burning  in  the 
fireplace  and  her  brothers  and  sisters  playing  near  the  fire*. 
Then  she  recalled  her  childish  innocence;  the  thought  touched 
her  heart  and  cold  perspiration  came  out  on  her  painted  cheeks, 
tears  rushed  from  her  eyes  and  in  utter  shame  she  buried  her 
face  in  her  naked  arms. 

Just  how  long  this  child,  for  Mildred  was  still  but  a  child, 
remained  in  this  position  is  not  recorded.  She  had  cried  her- 
self to  sleep.  To  her  it  seemed  only  a  few  minutes,  yet  the 
autumn  darkness  was  gloomily  creeping  into  the  room  when 
suddenly  the  girl  was  awakened  with  an  awful  jerk  upon  her 
shoulder.  In  fact  she  was  pulled  over  the  little  stool  and  fell 
sprawling  upon  the  floor. 

"In  the  devil's  name  what's  the  matter  with  you — why  ain't 
you  down  stairs  with  the  rest  of  the  girls — crying  again  eh?" 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  29 

screeched  a  large  blond  woman  wearing  a  bright  red  kimona. 

"Didn't  I  tell  you  last  time,  if  I  caught  you  whimpering 
around  here  again,  I'll  lick  you  to  pieces,"  continued  the  woman. 

"Oh,  'Miss  Maud',  please  don't  whip  me.  I  didn't  mean 
anything,  really  I  didn't,"  moaned  the  girl  trying  to  rise  from 
the  floor. 

Miss  Maud  snatched  the  girl  from  the  floor  and  held  her  at 
arm 's  length,  eyeing  her  cautiously,  finally  she  said : 

"Look  here,  I'll  bet  you  have  been  trying  to  sneak  another 
letter  out  to  your  folks.  Say,  if  you  have,  I'll  have  Clarence 
tend  to  you  right  this  time.  No  more  of  that  monkey  business 
around  this  house." 

Mildred  sobbed  out,  "No,  I  haven't,  Miss  Maud.  I  was  just 
so  tired  that  I  fell  asleep  again  after  I  got  up." 

"So  tired,"  echoed  the  woman,  "why,  didn't  you  go  to  bed 
at  five  thirty  this  morning — what  more  do  you  want  ?  Now  you 
get  dressed  quick  and  get  down  stairs.  How  do  you  think 
we're  going  to  make  any  money  with  you  laying  around  your 
room  all  day?" 

With  this  parting  shot  the  woman  released  her  hold  on  the 
girl  and  went  out  slamming  the  door. 

Mildred  sank  into  a  chair  limp  and  weak. 

"My  Father  in  Heaven,"  she  whispered,  "what  have  I  done 
to  deserve  this  horrible  punishment?" 

For  a  moment  she  sat  motionless.  Then  again  she  remem- 
bered home.  Biting  her  lips  to  keep  back  the  sobs  she  clenched 
her  hands  and  muttered,  "I  am  going  to  do  it  if  they  kill  me. 
I  shall  be  more  careful  and  write  just  a  short  letter  home, 
and  if  I  can't  get  it  out  any  other  way,  I  shall  throw  it  out 
of  the  window." 

Hurriedly  Mildred  put  on  a  gown  and  ran  down  stairs. 

It  was  an  hour  later.    A  young  girl  was  tiptoeing  noiselessly1^ 
into  the  room  of  one  of  the  older  and  trusted  girls  in  the  house^' 
Quickly  a  drawer  was  opened.    A  sheet  of  pink  writing  paper,T 
an  envelope  and  a  stamp  were  taken,  and  stealthily  the  girl 


30  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

slipped  out  of  the  room.    Hurrying  into  her  room  she  sat  in 
a  corner  near  the  window  and  quickly  wrote  a  letter. 

AT  THE  MERCY  OF  A  BRUTAL  FIEND. 

"Hey  there  kid,  what  you  doing !"  were  the  gruff  words  that 
greeted  the  frightened  girl  as  the  door  was  slammed  back  with 
a  thud  against  the  wall.  Mildred  for  a  moment  was  horror 
stricken.  She  tried  to  tuck  the  letter  in  the  bosom  of  her  gown, 
but  was  foiled  in  the  attempt.  The  person  who  had  come  into 
her  room  so  unceremoniously  ran  toward  her  and  grasping 
her  wrist  tightly  he  jerked  the  letter  from  its  hiding  place. 

"Oh,  trying  some  more  of  your  tricks,  eh?"  he  almost  shouted 
in  her  ear.  "I'll  teach  you  a  lesson  this  time  you  won't  forget 
for  a  while." 

As  he  said  those  words  he  struck  her  in  the  face  and  with  the 
next  blow  the  girl  fell  to  the  floor.  Not  content,  this  villain 
began  kicking  her  on  the  body  until  Mildred,  screaming  with 
pain,  held  up  one  hand  piteously  and  pleaded  for  her  life. 

"Oh,  Clarence  please,  please  don't  kill  me.  I  will  never, 
never  try  to  write  another  letter  home  again." 

Clarence  stood  motionless,  his  brows  were  knitted  together 
and  the  disappearing  lines  in  his  low  forehead  and  dark  face 
showed  that  his  anger  was  subsiding.  In  his  thin,  bony  fingers* 
he  held  the  letter.  He  glanced  it  over  and  then  tore  it  into 
pieces. 

"You  little  rat,  get  up,"  he  snapped  at  the  girl. 

Mildred,  sore  and  weak,  was  lying  on  her  side.  Slowly  by 
catching  hold  of  a  chair  she  pulled  herself  to  her  knees.  The 
poor  girl  was  in  agony.  The  blows  and  kicks  had  bruised  her, 
but,  worse,  her  heart  seemed  to  burst.  Her  last  hope  for  liberty 
was  gone.  She  realized  now  she  would  be  watched  so  closely 
that  she  would  be  a  slave  forever. 

As  she  looked  up  into  the  angry  face  before  her,  hoping 
against  hope,  that  some  touch  of  pity  would  lighten  the  coun- 
tenance of  her  tormentor,  Clarence  put  his  hand  in  his  pocket 
and  drew  out  the  finger  of  a  woman. 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  31 

"Look  here,"  he  said,  "this  is  the  finger  of  the  last  one  who 
tried  to  get  away.  You  know  what  that  means,  don't  you! 
Well,  that 's  what  happens  to  girls  who  snitch  on  us. ' ' 

Mildred  drew  back  in  fright.  The  thought  almost  crazed 
her.  The  thought  of  a  dead  girl  some  place — and  that  was  her 
finger  dangling  before  her  face. 

"It  scares  you,  does  it?"  jeered  the  young  fellow.  "Well, 
take  the  tip.  I  have  told  you  for  the  last  time.  Don't  write 
any  more  letters  unless  I  tell  you  what  to  write,  and  I  '11  do  the 
mailing  of  the  letters  myself." 

Of  course  she  knew  that  the  letters  would  never  be  mailed, 
and  what  was  the  use  of  writing  if  she  had  to  give  them  to 
him  only  to  be  destroyed. 

At  length  Mildred  had  staggered  to  her  feet. 

The  sight  of  the  human  finger  hanging  on  a  cord  sickened 
her,  yet,  she  summoned  all  the  strength  she  had  left.  She  tried 
to  speak,  but  she  could  not. 

By  this  time  Clarence  was  pacing  up  and  down  the  room.  A 
human  man,  with  red  blood  in  his  veins,  would  have  felt  some 
pangs  of  remorse,  but  Clarence  belonged  to  a  class  that  knew 
not  remorse. 

"See  here,"  he  finally  blurted  forth,  "you  are  spending  too 
much  time  in  your  room  crying  and  thinking  about  home. 
Better  forget  it  and  get  to  work.  I  want  some  money.  I  need 
it.  You  had  better  give  me  ten  dollars  right  now." 

"Why  Clarence,  you  know  I  haven't  a  penny,"  answered  the 
girl. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "you  know  where  you  can  get  it  from, 
you  can  get  it  from  Maud." 

THE  CHAIN  THAT  BINDS  THEM. 

She  looked  at  him  for  a  moment  and  then  said,  "Yes,  I  can 
get  it  from  Maud,  but  that  will  put  me  deeper  in  debt,  and  you 
know  I  can't  leave  as  long  as  I  am  in  debt." 

Clarence  was  evidently  still  thinking  about  the  letter  for  he 
said,  "Who  were  you  writing  to?" 


32  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

« 

She  answered,  "I  was  writing  to  mother. " 

"You  better  give  me  that  money  or  I'll  tell  Maud  I  caught 
you  writing  another  letter  home,"  said  Clarence,  "and  if  you 
don't  get  it  from  her,  I  will  get  it  from  her,  and  you  will  have 
to  pay  it  back." 

For  an  instant  she  forgot  herself  and  a  flash  of  anger  was 
in  her  eyes,  as  she  retorted : 

"You  won't  either,  because  I  won't  pay  it  back." 

Again  he  flew  into  rage.  In  an  instant  a  knife  was  in  his 
hand,  and  he  raised  it  in  a  threatening  manner.  "Are  you 
going  to  get  that  ten  dollars  for  me, ' '  he  yelled.  Mildred,  brave 
beyond  caution,  replied,  "No,  I  am  not." 

Clarence  made  a  lunge  toward  her  with  the  knife  in  his 
hand.  The  girl  grappled  with  him  in  a  vain  endeavor  to  over- 
power him.  The  aim  of  the  knife  went  wild,  and  as  she  tried  to 
catch  his  hand  she  was  cut  in  the  thumb,  and  when  she  saw 
the  blood  she  fainted. 

The  afternoon  passed  on,  and  night  had  come. 

"ONWARD,  CHRISTIAN  SOLDIERS." 

That  same  night  will  long  be  remembered  by  the  denizens  of 
the  "red  light"  district  in  Chicago.  It  was  a  night  of  great 
excitement. 

It  so  happened  that  for  several  weeks  a  well  known  evan- 
gelist, "Gypsy  Smith,"  had  been  preaching  in  Chicago,  and 
holding  mammoth  revival  meetings.  He  had  announced  that 
he  would  march  that  night  after  his  meeting  through  the  district 
of  shame  and  misery.  Great  preparations  had  been  made. 

Thousands  joined  in  the  line  of  march.  Women  and  men 
were  in  carriages  and  walking.  Boys  and  girls  carried  great 
banners.  Never  before  was  there  such  a  throng  in  the  notorious 
streets  of  vice. 

In  the  distance  the  music  of  a  band  was  heard.  Nearer  and 
nearer  it  came.  The  marchers  were  singing,  '  '  Onward  Christian 
Soldiers  Marching  as  to  War,  with  the  Cross  of  Jesus  going  on 
before." 


THE  THIRD  STEP— DRUGGED  AND  LED  TO  HER  RUIN. 

Having  taken  the  drugged  potion  she  is  now  incapable  of  <elf- 
control  and  is  easily  led  to  her  ruin.  Awakinff  she  will  iind  herself  an 
inmate  of  a  house  of  shame. 


Copyright  by  The  Midnight  Mission 

THE  GOSPEL  IN  A  HOUSE  OF  SHAME. 

Apparently  surrounded  by  luxury,  the  foolish  girls  are  in  reality 
slaves  to  vile  men.  Our  missionaries  are  seeking  to  lead  them  from 
the  paths  of  sin. 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  33 

Never  before  had  such  consternation  seized  the  keepers  and 
inmates  of  the  vice  resorts.  Frenzied  women  fell  on  their 
knees,  excited  girls  rushed  to  the  windows. 

On  came  the  slowly  moving  mass.     Now  singing,  "  Nearer 
my  God  to  Thee." 

Mildred  stood  in  the  darkness  of  her  room  peering  out  upon 
the  marchers.  Now  she  saw  a  large  man  uncover  his  head.  He 
kneeled  in  prayer.  The  marchers  stopped.  The  singing  ceased. 
It  was  Gypsy  Smith.  His  clear  voice  rang  out  in  the  still 
night  air.  "Father  if  there  are  lost  ones  in  these  houses  to- 
night, 0  that  they  may  have  faith  and  courage  and  seek  Thee, ' ' 
were  the  closing  words.  Mildred  saw  his  dark  eyes  glisten  in 
the  light  of  the  street  lamps.  His  black  mustache  and  hair  told 
her  that  he  was  a  determined  man.  His  frank  open  countenance 
lulled  her  into  faith  and  security. 

He  could  help  her.  She  would  call  to  him.  But  before  she 
could  muster  up  the  courage  he  had  started  to  march  on. 

She  would  call  anyway.  Still  smarting  from  the  wounds 
she  had  received  in  the  afternoon,  she  became  frantic.  In  utter 
abandon  she  forgot  fear.  Quickly  she  opened  the  window  and 
yelled:  "For  God's  sake  come  and  get  me!" 

"FOR  GOD'S  SAKE,  COME  AND  GET  ME." 

People  in  the  street  heard  the  cry  for  help. 

A  reporter  in  the  crowd  rushed  into  the  house,  up  the  stairs 
and  into  the  room. 

Breathless  he  said:    " What's  the  matter  little  girl?" 

"Oh  take  me  away  from  here,"  Mildred  cried. 

"You  want  to  leave  here?"  he  said. 

Overcome  with  excitement  Mildred  fell  into  a  chair  and  whis- 
pered, "Yes." 

The  reporter  answered  firmly,  "I  will  take  you  out.  Where 
are  your  clothes?" 

"They  are  locked  up,  and  I  can't  get  them,"  the  girl 
murmured. 

The  reporter  called  up  two  city  detectives,  Sergeant  Howe, 


34  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

and  Officer  Payne.  They  came  to  the  rescue.  The  officer  threw 
his  coat  around  the  girl,  took  her  out  into  the  street  and  once 
more  she  was  free. 

Gypsy  Smith's  parade  saved  at  least  this  girl.  Although  he 
was  roundly  censured  both  before  and  after  the  parade  for 
calling  attention  in  so  dramatic  a  fashion  to  the  underworld,  yet 
there  were  several  girls  who  escaped  from  their  captors  that 
night  as  did  Mildred. 

A  little  French  girl  imported  to  this  country  and  held  as 
a  slave  in  a  vice  resort  rushed  out  and  was  protected  by  the 
marchers.  A  coat  was  put  around  her  and  she  was  placed  in 
a  carriage  of  one  of  the  good  church  folk  in  the  parade,  taken 
home  with  them  and  afterwards  sent  to  relatives  in  Joliet, 
Illinois. 

So  whatever  the  ill  effects  of  the  parade,  it  certainly  did  some 
good,  just  how  much  can  never  be  recorded. 

The  officers  who  rescued  Mildred  that  night  took  her  to  a 
good  respectable  family  who  befriended  her  until  arrangements 
could  be  made  to  send  her  home.  These  people  brought  the 
facts  in  the  case  to  Attorney  John  McCabe,  and  he  sent  the 
case  to  the  office  of  Clifford  G.  Eoe,  which  is  established  for  the 
purpose  of  fighting  the  traffic  in  girls  in  Chicago. 

Detectives  from  Mr.  Boe's  office  soon  caught  Clarence  Gentry, 
but  Maud,  the  keeper  of  the  resort,  escaped  from  the  city  and 
has  never  been  found. 

Clarence  Gentry  was  tried  upon  the  charge  of  pandering 
by  a  jury  in  the  Criminal  Court  Building  in  the  early  part  of 
January,  1910.  Judge  Judson  Going  presided  at  the  hearing. 

Mildred  was  called  upon  to  testify,  and  this  is  the  story  she 
told  in  the  court  room. 

MILDRED'S  OWN  STORY. 

"My  name  is ,  but  the  name  I  am  known  by  here 

is  Mildred  Clark.  I  am  living  on  Jackson  boulevard  near 
Ogden  avenue,  where  I  am  staying  with  friends.  I  was  em- 
ployed in  a  store  down  town  until  lately. 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  35 

"When  I  met  Clarence  Gentry  I  was  staying  with  friends 
in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  My  parents  had  moved  away  from 
Nashville  to  a  town  about  fifty  miles  distant. 

"It  was  on  the  15th  of  July,  1909,  I  met  Clarence.  Well,  I 
met  him  and  he  asked  how  I  was  getting  along,  and  if  I  was 
working.  Then  I  went  out  to  the  swimming  pool  with  him,' 
and  after  I  knew  him  three  or  four  days,  he  asked  me,  'did  I 
want  to  get  married/  and  I  told  him,  'Yes.' 

THE  ELOPEMENT. 

"Then  after  that  we  talked  about  getting  married  and  he 
said  he  would  bring  me  to  Chicago  and  marry  me.  So  in  about 
a  week  or  ten  days  after  I  first  met  him  we  eloped  to  Chicago. 
I  remember  well  it  was  on  Saturday,  and  I  think  it  was  the 
24th  of  July.  We  left  Nashville  at  8 :30  in  the  evening,  and  sat 
up  all  the  way  in  a  day  coach,  and  got  into  Chicago  about  9 :30 
the  next  morning.  Of  course  Clarence  bought  the  tickets. 

"Well,  you  know,  when  we  got  on  the  train,  we  talked  about 
coming  here  to  Chicago,  and  renting  a  small  house.  That  is 
what  he  said;  we  would  rent  a  small  house,  but  then  he  said 
there  were  no  small  houses  to  rent,  they  were  all  flats,  and  then 
he  talked  about  how  happy  we  would  be  and  about  his  marry- 
ing me.  He  had  never  said  anything  out  of  the  way  to  me, 
and  had  always  been  proper  and  nice. 

"When  we  reached  Chicago  we  didn't  get  off — you  know  at 
the  main  station.  We  got  off  at  some  station  out  a  distance. 
We  got  on  a  street  car  and  rode  for  a  while  and  then  we  got 
off  the  street  car. 

"Clarence  said  he  would  take  me  to  a  hotel  until  he  could 
get  a  flat. 

"He  took  me  to  Armour  avenue,  and  of  course  I  was 

a  stranger  and  thought  it  was  a  hotel.  At  the  door,  a  maid, 
a  colored  woman  met  us.  She  said  she  would  assign  a  room 
to  us.  So  I  followed  her  up  into  the  room.  The  maid  took 
me  up,  and  Clarence  told  me  he  was  going  to  stop  downstairs 
for  a  while." 


36          ^  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

Question  by  Prosecuting  Attorney:  "Did  you  know  any- 
thing about  what  sort  of  a  place  this  was  when  you  went  there?" 

Answer:  "No,  sir,  I  thought  it  was  a  hotel.  I  thought  of 
course  we  were  going  to  be  married  right  away.  The  maid, 
you  know,  asked:  'Did  I  want  some  breakfast?'  and  I  told  her 
1 1  didn't.' 

"I  stayed  in  the  room  about  two  hours  by  myself,  and  I  was 
just  beginning  to  worry  about  Clarence  staying  away  from  me 
so  long.  I  was  crying.  I  never  had  been  away  so  far  from 
my  people  before. 

"Then  a  woman  came  up,  and  she  told  me  she  was  going 
to  take  me  to  another  hotel  as  they  were  filled  up  at  this  place. 
All  this  time  I  saw  nothing  whatever  out  of  the  way  to  arouse 
my  suspicions. 

1 '  Clarence  was  down  stairs  still  and  he  told  me  this  woman 
would  go  with  me,  and  then  he  said  he  would  come  along  later. 

"I  went  with  her  then,  and  the  woman  said  she  was  going  to 
send  for  Maud,  she  hadn't  got  up  yet,  and  so  they  awakened 
her — Maud — and  she  came  down  and  asked  me  how  old  I  was. 
I  told  her  I  was  sixteen.  I  thought  maybe  she  believed  I  was 
too  young  to  get  married.  I  was  seated  in  the  parlor,  and  in 
about  twenty-five  minutes  Clarence  came  down  to  this  place. 

THE  BROKEN  MARRIAGE  PROMISE. 

"I  turned  to  him  and  said,  'Are  we  going  to  get  married?' 
"Maud  was  there  when  I  asked  him  that  and  she  laughed. 
I  don't  know  why  she  laughed.  Then  Clarence  petted  me  but 
I  wouldn't  let  him.  There  was  a  couch  around  here — it  is  what 
you  call  a  cozy  corner.  I  wouldn't  let  him  pet  me  before  her, 
and  he  started  to  hug  me,  and  put  his  arms  around  me,  and  I 
pushed  his  arms  away,  and  he  got  to  talking.  I  don't  know  just 
what  we  said,  but  then,  you  know,  he  told  me  that  he  was  in 
a  little  trouble  with  the  'mugs,'  that  is  with  the  policemen,  that 
is  what  he  called  them,  'mugs,'  so  he  says  whatever  you  do, 
don't  mention  my  name.  He  said,  'If  they  ask  you  who  you 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  37 

came  up  with,  you  tell  them  you  came  up  alone,  and  tell  them 
you  are  twenty-three  years  old.' 

"Maud  was  there  all  this  time.  She  says,  'Well,'  she  says; 
she  didn't  call  him  his  name,  she  called  him  something  else,  I 
believe  she  called  him  Phil,  Phil,  yes,  that  is  it.  'Phil,'  she  says, 
let  us — let  us  see  just  how  it  was  she  said  it — I  don't  remem- 
ber just  what  she  said,  but,  she  talked  to  me  about  my  age, 
and  she  says,  'I  am  afraid  I  will  get  into  trouble.'  He  says, 
'  There  is  no  danger  of  you  getting  into  trouble ;  this  has  been 
done  before.'  So,  I  don't  know  just  exactly  what  it  was  she 
said,  but  he  told  me  then  not  to  say  anything  to  the  policemen 
about  his  being  there. 

"She  told  me  everything  to  tell  them — you  know  she  drilled 
me,  told  me  what  to  say.  She  told  me  to  say  I  was  twenty-two, 
that  is  to  the  policemen,  she  called  them  'mugs.' 

"She  said  for  me  to  tell  them  that  I  was  from  Uniontown, 
Pennsylvania,  then  she  said,  'No,  you  cannot  tell  them  that,— 
they  can  tell, —  they  can  tell  you  are  a  Southern  girl.' 

"Then  she  told  me  to  tell  that  I  came  from  Tennessee,  but 
you  can  tell  them  you  are  not  from  Nashville,  you  can  tell  them 
you  are  from  Chattanooga,  and  well,  you  might  tell  them  you 
went  to  Nashville  when  you  were  quite  young. ' 

"Both  Clarence  and  Maud  were  very  particular  about  the 
age  part.  Maud  told  me  four  or  five  times  not  to  make  any 
mistake. 

"I  didn't  know  what  they  were  asking  these  questions  for. 
They  just  told  me  to  answer  my  questions,  and  then  they  would 
cross  question  me  and  I  thought  it  had  something  to  do  with 
my  marriage  to  Clarence. 

"After  I  had  been  in  there  nine  or  ten  hours  Clarence  asked 
me, '  Did  I  have  any  money  to  buy  a  license,  a  marriage  license  f ' 

"I  told  him,  'No,  I  didn't,  that  I  didn't  have  any  money  with 
me.' 

"Well,  he  took  me  upstairs,  and  showed  me  where  I  would 
have  to  go,  and  took  my  suit  case — I  had  two  suit  cases. 


38  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

"I  said  to  him,  'Clarence,  if  you  don't  mean  to  marry  me, 
won't  you  give  me  enough  money  to  get  home?' 

"He  said,  'You  ought  to  be  satisfied.  I  brought  you  up  here, 
and  I  put  you  in  the  best  house  on  the  line' — I  didn't  know  what 
he  meant. 

"Then  he  says,  'If  you  were  a  little  bit  better  looking  I  would 
take  you  to  the  House.'  " 

Here  Mildred  stopped.  She  stared  wildly  at  the  State  Prose- 
cutor. She  seemed  to  be  in  a  trance. 

"What  else,"  the  attorney  asked. 

"Oh,  I  can't  go  on,  I  can't  bear  to  even  think  of  it.  The 
thought  of  it  haunts  me  in  my  sleep." 

She  seemed  terror  striken.  Her  eyes  closed  as  though  she 
would  faint.  There  was  a  long  pause.  The  court  room  was 
still  as  death.  A  glass  of  water  was  brought  to  her  and  at 
length  she  regained  her  composure  and  resumed  her  narrative. 

"Yes — Yes,"  she  again  halted;  stammered,  and  then  sort  of 
disconnectedly  continued. 

"We  went  on  upstairs  and  he  says, — 'Well,'  he  says — you 
know — 'I  would  have  to  go  with  the  men.'  I  didn't  just  realize 
what  he  meant.  But  I  was  beginning  to  be  frightened.  Some- 
thing told  me  I  had  been  fooled.  I  felt  dizzy,  and  he  gave  me 
something  to  drink  and  I  fell  asleep. 

PRISONER  IN  A  VILE  RESORT. 

"It  was  nine  or  ten  hours  after  I  got  to  this  place  that  I 
realized  I  was  really  a  prisoner  in  a  bad  house. 

"They  had  taken  my  clothes  and  locked  them  up  and  they 
made  me  put  on  a  short  dress.  I  cried  and  told  Maud  that  my 
Mamma  was  ill  and  I  must  go  home.  And  she  says,  'You  can- 
not go  home;  you  haven't  got  enough  money.'  I  told  her  that 
if  she  would  let  me  go  I  would  get  home  some  way. 

"She  said  'no,  she  didn't  do  business  that  way/ 

"Then  she  told  me  what  I  must  tell  the  police  or  anybody 
that  asked  about  me.  I  was  scared  into  submission.  I  was 
afraid. 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  39 

" About  seven  o'clock  a  policeman  came  there.    Mr.  Duffy. 

" First  he  asked  me,  he  says,  'What  is  your  name!' 

"I  told  him  my  name  was  Agnes  Sims. 

"He  says,  'Is  that  your  right  name?' 

"I  says,  'Yes,  sir.' 

"They  told  me  there  in  the  house  to  say  that.  They  told  me 
to  tell  him  that  Agnes  Sims  is  my  right  name,  but  they  told 
me  also  that  I  should  go  under  the  name  of  Mildred  Clark. 

"Then  he  asked  me,  'Where  are  you  from?' 

"I  says,  'I  am  from  Tennessee,'  and  he  said,  'What  part?'  and 
I  told  him. 

"  'Where  were  you  born,'  he  says. 

"I  answered,  'I  was  born  in  Chattanooga,  but  I  went  to  Nash- 
ville when  I  was  quite  young. ' 

"And  then  he  asked  me  how  old  I  was  two  or  three  times, 
and  I  told  him  I  was  twenty-two. 

"He  says,  'when  were  you  born,'  and  I  answered  that  I  didn't 
know. 

"He  said  to  me,  'Have  you  ever  sported  before?' 

"I  asked' him  what  that  meant. 

"He  asked  me,  'Had  I  ever  been  in  a  house  of  prostitution?' 

"I  told  him  'No,  that  I  hadn't.' 

"He  says,  'Did  you  come  to  Chicago  alone?' 

"I  hesitated  for  a  minute,  then  I  remembered  what  they  told 
me  to  say,  and  I  says,  'Yes  sir.' 

"Then  I  was  there  for  fourteen  weeks.  I  tried  to  get  out 
but  I  couldn't. 

"Several  times  when  Miss  Manley,  the  deaconess  came  to  see 
us  girls  I  wanted  to  tell  her  to  help  me.  She  was  so  kind  and 
good,  but  they  watched  me  like  a  cat  does  a  mouse.  They  al- 
ways stayed  right  in  the  room  when  any  missionary  was  around. 
I  didn't  dare  to  ask  for  help.  What  could  she  do.  If  I  did  tell 
she  would  have  to  go  for  help  for  they  would  fight  her,  and 
while  she  was  gone  they  would  kill  me  or  sneak  me  off  to  some 
other  place.  I  have  heard  them  tell  about  what  happens  and  it 's 
awful.  I  wanted  to  get  out  of  there,  but  I  was  afraid  they 


40  HOME,  SWEET  HOME 

would  kill  me  because  Clarence  told  me  if  I  ever  tried  to  get 
out  of  there  lie  would  kill  me." 

Then  the  girl  told  of  how  Clarence  had  beaten  her,  and  how 
he  had  shown  her  the  finger  of  the  dead  woman,  and  how  he 
had  cut  her  and  whipped  her  when  he  discovered  her  writing 
letters  home.  She  closed  her  narrative  in  the  court  room  by 
telling  of  her  thrilling  escape.  She  told  how  she  was  threatened 
after  she  gained  freedom.  How  it  was  necessary  for  the  lawyers 
and  officers  to  move  her  from  one  home  to  another  to  escape 
danger.  She  said  "  after  I  was  free  I  went  to  work  in  a  store 
while  I  was  waiting  for  the  trial  to  come  up.  They  had  traced 
me  to  where  I  was  staying  and  followed  me  to  work.  I  was 
staying  with  very  respectable  people  then,  of  course.  Eight 
in  the  store  a  fellow  came  up  to  me.  I  was  frightened  to  death. 
He  showed  me  a  knife  or  stiletto  when  no  one  was  looking.  He 
says,  *I  don't  want  you  to  snitch  on  Clarence  in  court,  and  you 
better  not  if  you  value  your  life. ' 

IN  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  LAW. 

' l  Clarence  was  then  arrested  and  waiting  his  trial. 

"I  was  so  frightened  when  he  left  I  went  right  home  to  where 
I  was  staying  and  they  have  guarded  me  ever  since  up  to  this 
very  day." 

Her  testimony  was  ended.  The  people  in  the  crowded  court 
room  moved  restlessly  in  their  seats,  and  the  next  witness  was 
called  to  the  stand. 

A  pathetic  feature  of  the  trial  was  the  introduction  of  the  old 
family  bible  that  belonged  to  Mildred's  parents.  In  the  center 
between  the  old  and  new  testaments  was  written  an  account  of 
the  marriages,  births  and  deaths  in  the  family.  Among  them  it 
said: 

"Albert was  married  to  Sadie  W. —  — ,  October  the 

2nd,  1881. 

"Mildred  was  born  October  the  25th,  1892. 

"Infant  girl  of  Albert  and  Sadie ." 

The  trial  at  last  was  ended,  and  Mildred  was  sent  to  her  home 


HOME,  SWEET  HOME  41 

in  Tennessee.  Clarence  Gentry  was  found  guilty  of  pandering 
and  sentenced  January  28,  1910,  to  serve  a  sentence  of  six 
months  in  the  House  of  Correction  and  pay  a  fine  of  three  hun- 
dred dollars  and  costs. 

The  fiend  who  had  misled  a  girl,  gained  her  confidence  by  a 
promise  of  marriage,  lured  her  away  from  friends  and  relatives 
and  then  cold  bloodedly  and  deliberately  had  sold  her  body  and 
soul  for  a  few  paltry  dollars  had  been  found  guilty  and  punished 
under  the  law.  The  penalty  is  far  too  light.  The  law  is  good, 
but  the  punishment  should  be  more  severe. 

Let  us  have  the  punishment  for  pandering  and  procuring  in 
every  state,  in  every  nation  from  at  least  two  years  to  life  im- 
prisonment in  the  penitentiary,  and  then  men  like  Gentry  can  be 
put  away  where  they  never  can  wreck  the  lives  of  our  daughters. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER. 

The  Lost  is  Found— Mildred  returns  from  the  house  of  bandage  and  joy 
and  happiness  reign  in  the  Old  Homestead — Gossiping  Neighbors — The 
Scarlet  Letter— Shunned  by  all— The  "Christian"  spirit  in  Church— The 
Sermon — The  hypocrisy  of  the  Social  World. 

A  big  log  was  burning  in  the  fireplace  and  before  the  fire  play- 
ing with  her  brothers  and  sisters  was  Mildred.  The  daughter 
who  was  lost  was  found.  Yes,  the  prodigal  daughter  has  re- 
turned. Mildred,  radiant  with  joy,  the  rosy  glow  of  happiness 
upon  her  cheeks,  has  realized  her  dream  of  yesterday. 

There  is  rejoicing  in  the  old homestead.  The  daugh- 
ter who  has  made  a  mistake  is  forgiven.  Once  more  the  family 
circle  is  complete,  and  the  heart-aches  and  sorrows  are  gone,  and 
instead  the  pulse  of  each  member  of  the  family  beats  in  mag- 
nificent rythm  and  harmony. 

But  how  about  the  world  outside  this  home, — how  will  it  re- 
ceive Mildred?  The  neighbors  have  gossiped  about  her  disap- 
pearance. They  have  consoled  the  parents  and  have  called  often 
to  offer  their  sympathy.  Then  the  daughter  suddenly  appeared 
in  a  far  off  city.  Scandal  was  associated  with  her  name  and  the 
newspapers  heralded  the  horrible  details  of  a  court  trial  in 
which  she  was  the  principal  witness.  These  same  neighbors  were 
shocked  to  learn  that  Mildred  had  been  in  a  house  of  shame. 

The  town  folk  recall  her  girlish  flirtations  and  every  little 
foolish  act  she  ever  committed.  She  must  be  a  wayward  girl  or 
she  would  not  have  eloped  with  a  man  she  had  scarcely  known  be- 
fore. They  know  she  has  been  a  bad  girl  and  now  she  is  not  fit 
for  their  children  to  associate  with.  As  she  passes  out  into  the 
streets  fingers  of  scorn  are  pointed  at  her.  In  the  minds  of  her 
acquaintances  the  scarlet  letter  of  sin  is  imprinted  upon  her 

42 


THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER 

breast  forever  and  instead  of  receiving  her  with  open  arms  they 
would  kick  her  into  the  gutter.  The  doors  of  their  homes  are 
shut  to  her,  and  she  is  not  invited  to  the  parties  and  sociables. 

One  day,  Mildred,  who  had  quite  recovered  her  health,  went  to 
church.  On  the  way  she  met  a  girl  friend  and  former  playmate, 
and  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment  Mildred  called  out  a  greeting. 
The  girl  who  had  been  her  friend  turned  away  her  head  and  did 
not  speak.  Mildred 's  proud  heart  throbbed  as  though  it  would 
break,  and  for  a  moment  she  stood  still  wondering  whether  she 
ought  to  go  to  church.  If  her  girl  friends  considered  her  too  vile 
to  speak  to,  how  would  she  be  received  at  the  church. 

Again,  slowly,  with  downcast  head  she  wandered  on  and  finally 
she  came  to  the  church  door.  She  hesitated,  then  with  renewed 
courage,  she  went  inside.  The  choir  was  singing,  "  Jesus  Lover 
of  My  Soul,  Let  Me  to  Thy  Bosom  Fly, ' '  as  Mildred  entered  and 
slipped  quietly  into  a  seat  near  the  back.  Several  persons  turned 
and  glared  at  her.  She  felt  a  cold  chill  and  it  seemed  to  her  that 
she  would  turn  to  stone  for  she  knew  the  meaning  of  the  frigid 
faces  about  her.  These  people  were  wondering,  doubtless,  what 
business  a  woman  of  the  under  world  had  in  their  midst. 

The  choir  had  finished  and  the  congregation  was  seated.  Mil- 
dred with  bowed  head  mentally  prayed,  "Oh  Jesus  lover  of  my 
soul,  let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly.  Forsaken  by  friends  and  alone, 
give  me  peace.  Forgive  my  sins  and  those  who  have  sinned 
against  me.  Make  me  pure  again.  Help  me  that  I  may  be  for- 
given by  those  who  know  me — ' '  and  then  the  prayer  was  broken 
off  for  the  minister  had  arisen  and  began  the  opening  words  of 
his  sermon. 

"And  the  son  said  unto  him,  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven,  and  in  thy  sight,  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy 
son. 

"But  the  father  said  to  his  servants,  bring  forth  the  best  robe, 
for  this  my  son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again ;  he  was  lost,  and  is 
found.  And  they  began  to  be  merry." 


44  THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER 

THE  HOME-COMING  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  SON. 

"My  text/'  said  the  minister,  "from  St.  Luke,  the  fifteenth 
chapter,  twenty-first,  part  of  the  twenty-second  and  twenty- 
fourth  verses,  tells  of  the  homecoming  of  the  prodigal  son. 
Many,  many  stories  of  the  prodigal  sons  of  today  could  be  told. 
The  spirit  of  charity  and  forgiveness,  which  should  begin  at 
home,  is  paramount  in  some  of  these  stories,  in  others  it  is  not. 

"Let  us  go  back  a  step  and  see  who  is  responsible  for  the 
wayward  child.  Is  it  the  parents  forgetful  of  their  duty  1  Is  it 
unfortunate  companionship  which  surrounds  the  boy  or  the  girl 
with  vicious  influences? 

* '  The  highest  duty  parents  owe  to  the  world  in  which  they  live 
is  the  proper  rearing  of  their  children.  So  many  are  neglectful 
of  this  duty  and  again  many  misunderstand  and  misinterpret 
this  duty. 

"In  a  certain  city,  a  well-to-do  father  conceived  the  idea  that 
boys  must  and  will  sow  their  wild  oats.  Therefore,  one  day  he 
decided  to  take  his  son  into  his  confidence  and  give  him  some 
1  advice. '  The  father  told  his  son  that  he  was  now  growing  into 
manhood,  and  would  be  invited  perhaps  by  his  young  men  com- 
panions to  go  about  town  and  into  places  where  he  would  be 
subjected  to  the  wiles  and  charms  of  women. 

"  'Now  my  son,'  said  this  father,  'I  want  you  to  get 
started  right.  If  you  go  to  such  places,  and  I  suppose  you  will, 
lest  you  happen  to  get  into  low,  cheap  places  full  of  vile  diseases 
I  want  you  to  take  this  card  and  go  to  this  address,  and  no  place 
else,  and  everything  will  be  charged  to  me,  and  I  shall  settle 
the  bills.' 

"The  son  did  as  he  was  bidden,  and  in  time  he  became  sick, 
diseased  and  a  worthless  degenerate.  Oh,  father,  what  a  mess 
of  venereal  pottage  you  stirred  up  for  that  son! 

"Fathers  and  mothers  it  is  high  time  in  these  days  of  en- 
lightenment to  learn  that  ignorance  is  not  innocence.  That 
father  was  ignorant  of  true  conditions  in  life.  Had  that  father 
taken  the  trouble  to  read  medical  journals  and  pamphlets  issued 
free  by  all  the  various  purity  societies,  as  the  American  Federa- 


THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER  45 

tion  of  Sex  Hygiene  of  New  York  City,  or  the  State  Board  of 
Health  of  Indiana  and  other  states  he  would  have  saved  his  boy 
a  sad,  worthless  career.  Yes,  he  would  have  learned  too,  that 
the  luxuriously  furnished  places  are  just  as  dangerous  as  the 
low  hovels. 

"Not  all  parents  are  so  unwise  as  was  the  father  of  this  boy. 
But  most  of  them  seem  to  think  that  it  is  quite  the  usual  thing 
for  boys  to  have  their  fling,  and  sow  their  wild  oats.  This  erro- 
neous idea  has  cost  the  lives  of  thousands  upon  thousands ;  it  has 
caused  at  least  eighty  per  cent  of  our  men  and  boys  to  be  dis- 
eased; it  has  caused  blindness,  insanity  and  many  incurable 
maladies ;  it  has  ruined  the  lives  of  wives  and  mothers ;  and  it  is 
causing  weaker  and  weaker  generations. 

"Yet  indulgent  father  and  kind  and  loving  mother  that  is  not 
all. 

"What  are  you  doing  for  the  girls  who  sow  their  wild  oats? 
The  prodigal  son  comes  home.  He  that  has  committed  all  the 
sins  against  God  and  man,  and  the  father  bids  the  servants  to 
*  bring  hither  the  fatted  calf,  and  kill  it;  let  us  eat,  and  be  mer- 
ry. '  Yes,  the  son  is  received  with  open  arms  and  all  is  forgiven. 

THE  RETURN  OF  THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER. 

"But  how  about  the  prodigal  daughter?  The  girl  who  has 
made  just  a  few  little  mistakes ;  sinned  once  perhaps,  what  hap- 
pens when  she  comes  home  f  Is  she  received  with  open  arms ;  is 
the  best  robe  brought  forth  by  the  servants  and  put  upon  her; 
is  a  ring  put  on  her  hand  and  the  fatted  calf  killed? 

"No!  she  is  brought  into  the  house  through  the  back  door 
lest  the  neighbors  should  see  her  return.  Her  sins  are  not  for- 
given ofttimes.  Her  past  follies  are  cast  up  to  her  every  day. 
She  is  taunted  until  she  becomes  broken  in  heart  and  downcast 
in  spirit. 

"Why?" 

Then  there  was  a  long  pause  as  though  the  minister  was  wait- 
ing for  some  one  in  the  congregation  to  reply.  It  was  a  dra- 
matic climax. 


46  THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER 

"I  shall  tell  you  why,"  at  length  the  minister  continued,  " be- 
cause you  parents,  you  men  and  women  have  set  up  two  stand- 
ards of  morals  for  your  children.  I  say  there  should  be  but  one 
standard  of  morals,  the  same  for  the  boys  as  for  the  girls.  To 
bring  about  this  single  standard  of  morals,  this  higher,  nobler 
and  grander  ideal  in  life,  parents  must  assume  a  better  view- 
point. 

"It  seems  sometimes  that  people  have  become  money  mad. 
Everything  is  money.  Our  idol  is  money.  We  worship  it.  We 
say  that  we  are  a  God  loving  and  a  God  fearing  people,  that  we 
worship  the  one  God,  and  yet  my  good  people,  how  often  do  we 
fall  down  upon  our  knees  and  worship  at  the  shrine  of  Money. 

"We  say  to  our  boys;  get  there;  too  often  it  is  said,  get  the 
money,  and  too  often  these  boys  do  not  care  how  they  get  it. 
The  whole  idea  is  wrong.  Do  not  put  money  at  the  pinnacle  as 
the  goal  to  strive  for,  but  put  there  instead,  honor,  character 
and  fair  dealings ;  put  there  also  at  the  very  topmost  place  the 
purity  of  the  home.  The  nation  which  does  not  honor  and  re- 
spect the  chastity  and  purity  of  its  daughters  and  the  son  who  is 
true,  clean  and  incorrupt,  will  surely  fall  as  did  Eome. 

"We  have  all  inherited  a  mistaken  idea  of  our  forefathers. 
They  have  taught  us  to  hide  social  evils,  to  clothe  in  mystery 
the  things  that  all  young  folks  should  know  of  life.  It  is  to  un- 
veil that  mystery,  the  uncontrollable  desire  to  know,  to  learn 
the  supposed  secrets  of  man  and  woman  that  more  often  than 
not  leads  boys  and  girls  astray. 

V 

FALSE  MODESTY  MUST  BE  CAST  ASIDE. 

"A  new  era  has  come.  An  era  of  frankness  and  truthfulness. 
No  longer  are  the  old  fashioned  theories  in  vogue.  We  have 
learned  that  the  old  ideas  were  hypocritical.  They  would  have 
us  affect  innocence  and  false  modesty.  Now  false  modesty  has 
been  cast  aside  and  fathers  and  mothers  are  beginning  to  do 
their  duty  to  their  children.  Father,  take  your  boy  into  your 
confidence.  Not  as  the  well-to-do  father  did,  but  in  a  clean, 
wholesome,  pure  way.  Explain  life,  and  its  beautiful  develop- 


THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER  47 

ment.  Your  boy  will  then  respect  his  sister  and  the  neighbor's 
daughter.  Mother,  take  your  daughter  into  your  confidence  at 
the  fireside.  Tell  of  those  holy,  simple,  real  things  that  she  will 
know  sooner  or  later. 

" There  is  a  time  in  every  young  girl's  life,  when  she  is  being 
transformed  from  girlhood  to  young  womanhood,  that  is  most 
important  to  her  future.  New  thoughts  and  emotions  are 
awakened.  New  sensations  and  feelings  are  developed.  Then 
it  is  that  the  girl  needs  and  deserves  the  confiding  careful  moth- 
er. Then  is  the  opportune  time  for  the  mother  to  sit  down  and 
explain  life  and  its  wonderful  beauty  and  sweetness. 

"Yes,  fathers  and  mothers  tell  your  children  in  the  right  way. 
Do  not  deceive,  but  give  genuine  knowledge  to  your  children, 
then  they  will  not  seek  it  from  the  neighbor's  boy  or  girl,  and 
from  whom  they  get  false  knowledge  nearly  every  time. 

"Mothers  be  more  charitable  to  your  daughters  when  they 
go  wrong  and  fall,  for  your  false  ideas,  prudery  and  hypocrisy 
has  doubtless  been  the  cause. 

"Friends,  give  the  girl  a  fair  and  square  deal.  Give  her  an 
equal  chance  with  the  boys,  and  may  the  spirit  of  forgiveness 
abide  in  your  hearts  for  the  prodigal  daughter  as  well  as  the 
son." 

The  sermon  was  finished. 

Mildred  had  sat  almost  motionless.  Now  and  then  her  eyes 
filled  with  tears. 

THE  TRUE  SPIRIT  OF  FORGIVENESS. 

Soon  the  services  were  over.  Friends  and  neighbors  who  had 
been  cool  and  distant  to  Mildred  were  touched  by  the  sermon. 
They  gathered  about  this  prodigal  daughter  and  the  true  spirit 
of  forgiveness  and  charity  filled  her  heart  with  joy. 

Just  as  Mildred's  mistakes  were  from  that  day  forth  over- 
looked by  her  townsfolks,  so  the  spirit  of  benevolence  and  good 
will  was  bestowed  upon  another  prodigal  daughter  in  February, 
1911,  as  the  following  letter  will  show: 


48  THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER 

"Chicago,  111.,  Feb.  26,  1911. 
Mr.  Clifford  G.  Roe,  Ashland  Block,  City. 

Deaf  Sir:  I  feel  as  if  it  is  my  duty  to  write  to  you  and  thank  you  for  your 
services  to  me. 

I  certainly  had  quite  a  siege  of  it  while  at  the  Annex,  but  I  guess  everyone  has 
to  have  an  experience  of  this  world  sooner  or  later,  and  I  have  had  mine  while  I 
am  young,  so  I  guess  it  is  not  due  for  the  second  time. 

I  am  not  working  yet,  but  I  can  sincerely  say  I  am  feeling  very  contented  at 
home.  I  have  found  my  old  friends,  that  I  thought  would  look  down  on  me  for 
what  I  have  done,  have  overlooked  it. 

I  cannot  say  just  how  soon  I  will  be  able  to  carry  out  the  divorce  proceedings, 
but  I  know  I  will  not  feel  contented  until  I  am  separated  from  him. 

Give  detectives  Bell  and  Kinder  my  best  regards,  and  say  for  me  that  there 
will  be  no  more  wrong  doings  on  my  part. 

So  with  best  regards  and  wishing  you  the  best  of  luck,  I  remain,  as  ever, 

Your  friend,    HAZEL." 

This  letter,  of  course,  must  be  explained.  You  are  quite  like- 
ly wondering  what  happened  to  Hazel,  and  why  does  she  men- 
tion a  divorce. 

Hazel,  another  prodigal  daughter,  lived  in  the  City  of  Chicago. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  she  married.  A  fine  little  boy  was 
born  to  her,  and  at  the  time  the  above  letter  was  written  the 
baby  was  twenty  months  old.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  Hazel 
claims  her  husband  caused  her  to  become  a  woman  of  the  under- 
world. Finally  this  husband  was  arrested  for  contributing  to 
the  delinquency  and  dependency  of  the  little  son.  The  evidence 
given  before  Judge  John  E.  Newcomer  proved  conclusively 
that  the  husband  had  collected  a  part  of  the  mother 's  earnings 
in  a  house  of  ill  fame  at  number  —  Armour  Avenue.  Even 

Blanche ,  the  Madam  of  the  resort,  where  the  child-mother 

was  kept  came  forth  with  a  receipt  for  five  dollars  signed  upon 
one  occasion  by  Walter  the  father  and  husband. 

Hazel  was  rescued  from  the  resort  and  placed  in  the  Annex, 
a  dormitory  adjacent  to  the  Harrison  Street  Municipal  Court 
pending  the  trial.  The  baby  was  cared  for  by  the  girl 's  mother 
and  sister.  Walter  was  found  guilty  by  the  court,  February 
twenty-third,  1911. 

The  letter  explains  that  Hazel  had  gone  back  home  and  she 


"FOR  GOD'S  SAKE,  COME  AND  GET  ME." 

Mildred  Clark's  frenxied  cry  that  ran^  out  in  the  niirht  ;i<  the 
C.ypsy  Siiiith  ^rcat  parade  was  passing  through  the  vice  district.  Chap- 
ter I 


THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER  49 

rejoices  that  her  old  friends  have  not  looked  down  upon  her,  but 
have  received  her  with  kindness. 

Quite  in  contrast  was  the  homecoming  of  another  prodigal 
daughter  with  whom  Hazel  became  acquainted  in  the  Annex. 

A  few  days  prior  to  the  conviction  of  Walter,  on  February 
fifteenth,  Floyd  Williams,  and  Eichard  Nugent  were  tried  in 
the  court  where  Judge  Isadore  Himes  presided. 

Williams  was  Sentenced  to  the  work  house  for  a  period  of  six 
months,  and  also  to  pay  a  fine  of  three  hundred  dollars  and 
costs  for  the  crime  of  pandering,  which  means  white  slave  pro- 
curing. 

Nugent  who  aided  Williams  in  procuring  a  Michigan  girl, 
Fannie,  by  name,  was  fined  fifty  dollars  and  costs  under  the 
charge  of  committing  a  crime  against  public  morals. 

This  is  the  history  of  the  case : 

FANNIE  FALLS  AMONG  THE  WHITE  SLAVE  TRADERS 

Fannie  had  left  her  home  town  in  Michigan  and  had  gone  to 
St.  Joseph,  which  is  just  across  the  end  of  Lake  Michigan  from 
Chicago.  Floyd  Williams  had  met  her  in  St.  Joe,  as  the  place  is 
familiarly  called  and  a  correspondence  had  resulted.  Finally 
the  girl  was  induced  by  Williams  to  come  to  Chicago. 

The  scene  was  shifted.  Down  a  Chicago  street  came  the  girl 
guided  by  her  new  friend  Floyd  Williams,  and  behind  trailed 
Eichard  Nugent  carrying  her  suit  case  and  valise.  The  street 
was  West  Madison  Street,  and  the  place  stopped  at  was  one  of 
the  many  flats  and  apartments  of  ill  repute  which  line  both  sides 
of  certain  portions  of  this  street.  Up  the  stairs  they  went  in  full 
sight  of  all  the  passersby  and  right  in  the  daytime.  The  door 
was  opened  and  as  it  closed  upon  Fannie  she  became  an  inmate 
in  a  resort  of  vice. 

Blonde  -  — ,  the  keeper  of  this  resort,  talked  with  the  boys  out 
of  Fannie 's  hearing,  and  then  she  turned  to  the  girl  and  asked 
her  age.  Fannie  answered  that  she  was  eighteen  years  old. 

"Then,"  said  Fannie,  "she  took  me  into  another  room  and 
told  me  this  was  a  sporting  house  and  asked  me  if  I  had  ever 


50  THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER 

been  in  a  house  of  that  kind  before.   I  told  her  no,  I  had  never 
been  in  such  a  place  before. 

"You  look  younger  than  eighteen,"  said  the  woman,  "and 
you  must  tell  the  police  officers  when  they  come  here  that  you 
have  been  in  a  house  of  ill  fame  on  Curtis  Street.7' 

The  girl  was  kept  and  later  when  Officers  Burns  and  Sheehan 
came  to  this  place  to  seek  out  new  girls  they  questioned  Fannie 
and  asked  who  brought  her  there.  The  girl  told  them  the  truth 
and  she  was  taken  out  by  the  detectives,  and  her  young  pro- 
curers were  arrested. 

After  the  convictions  of  these  white  slave  traders  the  next 
question,  as  always,  was  what  shall  be  done  with  the  girl  I 

Sometimes  the  girls  rescued  from  bondage  are  ashamed  to 
go  back  home,  and  in  other  cases  they  are  too  diseased  to  be 
allowed  immediate  freedom. 

In  this  case  Fannie  wanted  to  go  back  home. 

The  detectives  took  Fannie  over  to  the  Annex  where  Hazel 
was  then  staying. 

Before  this  Miss  Kate  Jane  Adams,  Secretary  to  LeEoy  T. 
Steward,  General  Superintendent  of  Police,  caused  an  examina- 
tion of  the  girl  to  be  made  by  the  City  Physician.  It  was  found 
that  the  girl  certainly  needed  a  mother's  care  and  attention. 
Therefore,  on  the  18th  day  of  February  in  company  with  Flor- 
ence Mabel  Dedrick,  one  of  the  mission  workers  in  the  under- 
world of  Chicago,  the  girl  left  for  her  Michigan  home. 

It  is  quite  a  temptation  to  set  forth  here  names  and  street 
numbers  as  a  burning  rebuke  to  the  reception  accorded  this  poor 
little  prodigal  daughter  upon  her  homecoming.  But  charity 
forbids. 

THE  UNCHRISTIANLIKE  CHRISTIANS. 

Miss  Dedrick  reported  upon  her  return  to  Chicago  that  Fan- 
nie's  reception  was  anything  but  pleasant.  There  was  no  love 
and  tenderness  shown  her.  A  brother,  who  is  reported  to  be  a 
"good"  man,  refused  to  shake  hands  with  his  sister,  and  others 
of  the  family  declined  to  speak  to  the  daughter  who  was  lost, 
and  was  found. 


THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER  51 

Was  Fannie 's  brother  not  unlike  the  elder  brother  of  the 
prodigal  son  who  refused  to  go  into  the  house  and  receive  his 
prodigal  brother? 

Mother,  did  you  take  Fannie  into  your  confidence  and  tell  her 
about  life  when  she  was  a  dozen  years  old? 

Perhaps  if  you  had  she  would  not  now  return  as  a  poor,  for- 
lorn, almost  forsaken  daughter. 

Just  such  homecomings  as  Fannie 's  have  turned  more  girls 
back  into  the  paths  of  sin  than  any  other  one  thing.  Story  after 
story  could  be  told  of  like  circumstances. 

The  panders  are  caught  and  convicted.  Those  who  hired 
them  to  carry  on  their  dastardly  business  are  put  behind  bars, 
but  what  in  the  world  can  be  done  for  the  girls  who  are  rescued 
if  even  their  parents  will  not  lend  a  helping  hand. 

THE  MOTHER'S  DUTY. 

When  prodigal  daughters  return  home  there  should  be  great 
rejoicing.  The  future  should  be  made  bright  and  beautiful. 
The  past  should  never  be  recounted,  and  sins  left  behind  should 
never  be  cast  up  as  a  reprimand  and  a  punishment. 

God  knows  these  poor  girls  have  been  punished  enough  al- 
ready. 

A  mother's  true  instinct  should  make  her  loyal  to  her  chil- 
dren, and  this  loyalty  will  go  far  toward  keeping  them  in  the 
narrow  path  of  righteousness. 

Mothers  formerly  knew  more  about  their  daughters'  affairs 
than  they  do  now. 

The  condition  of  women  has  changed.  Women  have  entered 
into  the  commercial  and  industrial  life,  and  so  have  their  daugh- 
ters. Mothers  and  daughters  have  grown  apart. 

Never  before  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  it  been  quite 
so  necessary  for  mothers  to  make  extra  efforts  to  hold  their 
daughters  close  to  them  as  it  is  today. 

The  fact  that  women  have  entered  the  arena  of  business  strife 
has  brought  about  an  economic  and  a  social  change  just  the 
same  as  the  work  of  the  artisan  has  been  changed  by  the  in- 
troduction of  modern  machinery. 


52  THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER 

In  olden  days  mother  and  daughter  gat  by  the  fire  and  knitted 
and  darned  and  sewed.  Confidences  were  exchanged  and  moth- 
er and  daughter  knew  each  other  intimately,  while  today  quite 
often  they  are  employed  in  offices,  stores  or  factories.  In  this 
way  they  are  growing  farther  and  farther  apart.  The  girl  is 
getting  away  from  the  mother. 

There  should  be  a  realization  of  modern  conditions  by  moth- 
ers, and  they  should  make  greater  advances  to  get  closer  to 
their  daughters. 

Mother  make  your  daughter  your  sister,  confide  in  her  more, 
and  get  her  to  confide  in  you.  Get  her  to  tell  all  her  troubles  to 
you.  When  her  tired  heart  aches  cheer  her  up  a  bit.  The  daugh- 
ter is  neglected  at  home  oftentimes,  and  then  she  goes  to  a 
friend,  probably  a  sister  clerk  in  some  office  or  store  to  whom 
she  relates  her  troubles.  .  This  tends  to  deepen  and  widen  the 
gulf  between  mother  and  daughter. 

The  mother's  duty  to  her  daughter  is  beautifully  expressed 
in  the  following  verses  penned  by  a  Chicago  woman  who  writes 
under  the  nom  de  plume  of  Mae  Bell : 

Oh,  parents,  why  allow  your  daughters  to  wander  away  against  your  will, 
Keep  them  with  you  and  near  you,  lovingly  teach  them  to  confide  in  you  still. 
Be  companions  to  your  children,  and  always  let  them  have  their  fun  and  pla>, 
Bid  them  bring  their  friends  and  playmates  to  see  you,  you  can  judge  them  in  this  way. 
Be  one  of  the  young  folks  with  them,  play  and  sing,  never  think  that  you're  too  old, 
For  by  interest  in  all  their  pleasures  you  can  all  their  interests  hold. 

Teach  your  daughters  they  should  speak  to  no  one  who  is  not  made  known  by  some 

friend, 

Tell  them  of  the  wrongs  of  flirting  and  that  coquetting  never  had  good  end. 
Hold  pure  and  true  womanhood,  as  a  high  standard  to  strive  for  and  attain, 
Honest  men,  good  men  want  the  truest  virtue  in  the  women  whom  they  gain. 
Yes,  and  always  know  your  girls'  companions  are  pure  and  true  as  girls  should  be, 
You  may  thus  keep  many  souls  from  sinking  into  this  seething  and  boundless  sea. 

But  the  parents  who  are  careless  of  the  dear  gifts  which  they  have  been  given, 
Must  answer  above  for  these  precious  souls  when  earth's  ties  have  been  riven. 
God  will  ask  of  them  to  give  an  account  of  the  deeds  they  have  done  while  here, 
Of  the  souls  of  the  daughters  whose  care  they've  had,  can  they  answer  without  fear? 
Have  they  guarded  truly  and  well  these  children's  lives,  guided  them  well,  one  by  one 
If  so  The  Master  will  say  when  their  tasks  are  o'er,  "Thy  work  has  been  well  done. 


: 


CHAPTER  III. 

OUR  DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS. 

The  False  Standard  of  Morals— One  for  the  Prodigal  Son— A  vastly  different 
one  for  the  Prodigal  Daughter— One  received  in  Society— The  other  a 
social  outcast— There  should  be  one  Standard  for  All. 

We  have  just  seen  the  tragic  efforts  that  girls  make  to  climb 
back  to  respectability.  For  the  first  time,  doubtless,  we  have  had 
brought  forcibly  to  our  attention  the  hypocrisy  of  the  social 
world. 

Mankind,  the  world,  and  society  has  set  up  two  standards  of 
morality,  one  for  the  man  and  another  for  the  woman.  These 
standards  always  looked  upon  as  rigid  and  firm  must  soon  rot  at 
the  base  and  topple  to  the  ground. 

Woman  never  the  equal  of  man,  at  least  in  the  eyes  of  man,  is 
fast  coming  into  her  own.  Once  a  slave,  then  a  plaything,  and 
now  a  rival  to  man  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  woman  has  proved  her 
worth.  Given  education  and  freedom  in  the  final  analysis  she 
will  solve  the  white  slave  problem. 

Yet  women  in  their  ignorance  and  men  in  their  arrogance  and 
duplicity  have  created  false  standards  of  morality.  What  a  trav- 
esty it  is  to  say  to  the  prodigal  son,  who  sowed  his  wild  oats  and 
committed  all  the  sins  against  God  and  man,  your  are  forgiven, 
come  home  and  we  will  kill  the  fatted  calf,  and  then  turn  around 
and  chastise,  frown  upon  and  forever  brand  as  a  social  outcast 
the  prodigal  daughter,  who  has  just  sinned  once  perhaps.  That 
is  not  fair.  There  should  be  but  one  standard  of  morality,  and 
the  same  rules  of  conduct  should  be  applied  to  the  man  and  the 
woman.  That  which  is  wrong  for  the  woman  should  be  wrong 
for  the  man,  and  when  civilized  society  shall  have  established 
such  a  standard  then  we  shall  have  gone  a  long  way  toward  the 
solution  of  the  social  evil  problems. 

53 


54       DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  to  hear  so-called  respectable 
fathers  and  even  mothers  say:  "Well  I  want  my  boys  to  sow 
their  wild  oats  while  they  are  young  and  get  through  with  it." 
Some  parents  even  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  a  boy  will  not  de- 
velop into  full  manhood  until  he  has  sown  his  wild  oats.  Such 
statements  are  leading  more  young  men  astray  than  people  at 
first  glance  imagine. 

Girls  and  women  also  encourage  young  men  in  this  thought. 
If  the  feminine  branch  of  society  would  take  a  firm  stand,  soon 
there  would  be  a  great  change.  Yet,  well  knowing  the  lives  that 
these  young  prodigals  are  leading,  often  conversant  with  their 
social  excesses,  the  women  receive  these  fellows  into  their  par- 
lors and  social  circles,  and  court  the  friendship  and  attention  of 
such  men. 

Oh,  inconsistency  where  will  you  stop?  You  frown  upon  the 
girl  who  sows  her  wild  oats,  and  you  smile  upon  the  young  man 
in  his  wrong  doing. 

This  idea  of  the  double  standard  of  morals  cannot  be  better 
illustrated  than  by  telling  the  following  incident  which  hap- 
pened in  a  court  room. 

Strange  and  weird  stories  are  related  by  the  thousands  every 
day  of  our  lives  in  the  courts  throughout  the  world.  Stories 
that  are  true  and  genuine  and  yet  when  read  they  seem  like  a 
fanciful  fabric  woven  by  the  ingenuity  and  imagination  of  the 
novelist.  So  often  has  it  been  said  that  truth  is  sometimes 
stranger  than  fiction,  while  in  fact  fiction  is  founded  most  often 
upon  a  truth,  a  living  reality,  an  incident  that  has  happened 
sometime  and  some  place. 

In  the  every  day  routine  call  of  cases  many  a  man  is  charged 
with  being  the  father  of  a  child  which  is  born  not  of  lawful  wed- 
lock. So  on  a  certain  morning  a  dapper,  well  dressed,  young 
man  stepped  before  the  Judge  in  answer  to  his  name.  He  was 
accused  by  a  young  woman  just  as  well  dressed  and  one  who 
bore  every  evidence  of  coming  from  just  as  respectable  parent- 
age. Yes,  the  story  she  told  the  Judge  that  morning  was  one  of 


DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS  55 

these  many  strange  stories  that  are  heard  and  forgotten  in  the 
courts,  but  are  chronicled  by  the  astute  novelist. 

On  this  particular  morning  there  were  few  persons  in  the 
court  room.  A  hanger-on  had  straggled  in  to  listen  to  the  gossip 
of  the  day.  A  lawyer  or  two  loitered  about  awaiting  the  call 
of  a  case.  The  case  before  the  Judge  was  of  no  great  moment. 
It  was  just  a  common,  every  day,  to  express  it  in  the  rude  and 
homely  terms  of  the  courts,  bastardy  case.  The  principals  were 
not  known  to  the  newspaper  reporters,  and  so  the  day  wore  on 
as  it  began,  quietly  and  without  excitement. 

A  jury  had  been  waived  by  the  young  man  defendant,  for  his 
lawyer  wanted  to  hurry  the  case  along,  and  perhaps  also  wanted 
as  little  publicity  for  his  client  as  possible.  There  were  just  two 
witnesses,  the  complainant  and  the  accused.  Even  the  baby  had 
been  excluded  from  the  room,  yet  now  and  then  from  an  ante 
room  came  its  cries  to  spur  on  the  weary  mother  to  renewed 
and  greater  efforts  in  its  behalf. 

The  woman  had  taken  the  witness  chair. 

A  HEART  BREAKING  STORY. 

"Judge,"  she  began  in  a  low  clear  voice,  "I  am  not  here  so 
much  for  my  own  sake,  as  for  baby 's.  That  she  may  have  sup- 
port from  her  father  is  my  plea." 

"That  is  the  object  of  the  law,"  answered  the  Judge,  "to 
protect  fatherless  children  and  not  their  mothers.  In  the  eyes 
of  the  law  the  mother  is  equally  guilty  with  the  father  in  the 
wrong  doing.  The  law  does  not  sympathize  with  her  more  than 
with  him,  but  treats  her  coldly,  but  the  child  must  be  supported 
if  it  can  be  proved  who  is  the  father.  Now  go  on  and  give  what 
proof  you  can  that  this  man  is  the  father  of  your  child." 

She  continued,  "Well  back  east  we  both  lived  in .  In 

fact  we  were  raised  as  playmates.  Our  homes  were  right  next 
door.  I  used  to  play  in  his  yard,  and  he  played  in  ours.  Both 
our  parents  are  people  of  means  and  standing  in  the  community. 
By  and  by  we  grew  up,  he  went  to  college  and  I  was  sent  away 
to  a  boarding  school.  Our  days  of  study  passed  and  we  were 


56       DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

once  more  at  home,  he  in  the  bank  with  his  father  and  I,  well,  I 
was  just  in  society. 

"One  night,  Judge,"  the  young  woman  whispered,  "he  came 
over  to  our  home  and  invited  me  to  attend  a  theatre.  In  a  way 
we  had  sort  of  grown  apart,  for  while  he  was  away  in  college 
he  had  found  new  friends  and  a  new  world.  I,  too,  had  new  am- 
bitions. Well,  as  I  said  he  came  over  and  we  chatted  along  try- 
ing to  feel  the  same  toward  each  other  as  always.  Ever  since 
we  had  entered  upon  our  teens  there  was  a  sort  of  an  under- 
standing between  us  that  some  day  we  would  marry.  Our  par- 
ents had  taken  it  for  granted  that  when  he  went  into  business 
and  had  made  a  start  in  the  world  for  himself  that  we  would  be- 
come man  and  wife. 

"Yet  a  change  had  come  over  him,"  the  woman  continued,  "I 
just  could  not  like  him  in  the  same  old  way.  All  our  friends 
realized  he  had  become  a  rake  and  a  libertine.  His  eyes  were 
blurred,  as  I  knew,  by  drink  and  other  excesses.  His  hands 
shook  and  were  unsteady  as  he  puffed  his  cigarette. 

"It  was  early  in  the  fall,  that  night  we  went  to  the  theatre  to- 
gether. After  the  play  we  visited  a  restaurant  and  there  we 
drank  wine.  I  was  not  quite  used  to  much  wine  then,  Judge,  and 
I  became  dizzy  and  silly.  I  remember  well  that  he  had  to  as- 
sist me  out  of  the  restaurant  and  into  the  carriage.  What  hap- 
pened then  that  night  I  do  not  distinctly  remember. 

"Not  many  weeks  had  passed,  your  Honor,  before  I  was  con- 
vinced that  I  was  to  become  a  mother.  Oh,  I  was  frantic.  I 
hated  him,  but  was  powerless.  Then  I  told  him  of  my  condi- 
tion." 

Here  she  paused  and  raised  her  head  and  looked  the  defendant 
straight  in  the  face  and  pointed  her  finger  at  him,  and  almost 
yelled :  "What  a  cad  you  were  that  night,  and  you  are  a  coward 
and  a  moral  leper  today. ' ' 

"I  object,"  exclaimed  the  defendant's  attorney. 

"Well,  he  is,"  cried  the  woman  hysterically.  "He  is  just  the 
same  today  as  he  was  then.  I  told  him  that  my  love  for  him  had 
grown  cold  but  that  he  must  marry  me  to  save  my  honor  and 


DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS        57 

give  the  unborn  baby  a  name.  He  told  me  that  I  was  not  the 
sort  of  girl  for  him  to  marry,  and  he  said  he  just  did  that  to 
try  me.  Yes,  he  said  I  was  just  as  bad  as  he  was  and  I  would 
have  to  face  the  music.  Oh,  I  did  face  the  music,  and  look  at  me 
Judge,  see  what  I  have  become  because  of  him,  a  wreck,  an  out- 
cast socially  and  morally. 

"I  could  not  stand  it.  I  could  not  bear  to  tell  mother  and 
father  so  one  night  I  slipped  away. 

DECIDES  TO  RUN  AWAY. 

"I  knew  the  standards  of  morals  in  social  circles.  I  knew 
he  would  be  received  and  forgiven  and  that  I  would  be  shunned 
and  forever  disgraced.  What  else  could  any  girl  do  ?  Here  is  a 
copy  of  the  note  I  left  at  home.  I  have  kept  it  always  with  me, 
and  many,  many  times  sad  and  forlorn  I  have  read  it  over  and 
over  again. ' ' 

"Dear  Papa  and  Mamma:  I  have  decided  to  go  away  to  earn  my  own  living. 
I  want  to  be  independent  like  other  girls  I  know.  Please  do  not  worry  about  me; 
I  shall  write  you  often.  MABEL." 

' '  Here  I  am  and  it  does  not  matter  much  how  I  got  here  and 
what  has  been  my  life." 

' '  But  I  am  interested  to  know  all, ' '  said  the  Judge. 

"It  is  a  hard  story  to  tell  Judge,'"  she  said,  "especially  in 
front  of  this  man  who  has  suffered  nothing.  Back  home  he  is 
just  the  same.  If  he  drinks  until  he  is  drunk  his  social  set  over- 
looks it.  If  he  commits  the  sin  of  wrong  against  woman  the 
offense  is  condoned. 

"How  different  is  the  lot  of  mere  woman.  She  tastes  wine 
and  she  is  a  drunken  hussy.  She  commits  a  sin  with  man  and 
the  offense  is  unpardonable. 

"Well,  back  to  my  life  here.  If  I  must  tell  of  it  I  shall.  I 
arrived  in  Chicago  in  the  latter  part  of  October  with  a  little 
over  a  hundred  dollars.  Not  knowing  where  to  go  to  find  more 
reasonable  quarters  I  went  to  the  -  Hotel,  where  I  had 
stopped  once  before  with  my  parents.  Of  course  it  was  very  ex- 


58       DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

pensive  there,  and  I  soon  realized  that  I  must  very  soon  find  a 
boarding  house  of  moderate  price.  I  had  never  economized  in 
my  life,  and  you  know  how  hard  it  is  to  come  down  to  the  place 
to  which  you  are  not  accustomed.  It  was  necessary  to  do  it, 
however,  for  my  limited  sum  of  money  was  fast  dwindling  away. 
"I  looked  through  the  papers  for  a  place  to  work.  Place 
after  place  was  offered  me  as  a  canvasser  or  agent,  but  gen- 
erally I  had  to  give  some  reference  or  security  for  some  outfit. 
At  last  in  desperation  I  applied  for  work  in  one  of  the  large 
stores  to  find  that  they  were  in  need  of  clerks  for  the  Christmas 
shopping  season.  On  came  the  holiday  rush  and  I  had  to  stand 
all  day  selling  goods  to  cranky  men  and  unreasonable  women. 
Never  before  did  I  realize  the  hardships  these  poor  store  clerks 
endure  at  this  season  of  the  year.  I  was  scolded  by  women  who 
were  far  below  my  social  standing  at  home ;  I  was  shifted  from 
one  counter  and  department  to  another.  At  night  I  was  gener- 
ally so  tired  I  could  scarcely  drag  myself  to  my  little  hall  room. 
Of  course,  I  felt  it  more  because  I  was  not  used  to  work. 

OF  TWO  EVILS,  CHOOSE! 

"As  the  month  of  November  wore  away  and  December  was 
right  on  us  the  trade  became  heavier  and  I  became  weaker. 
Finally  I  was  assigned  to  the  handkerchief  counter.  A  day  or 
so  afterward  a  well  dressed  man  approached  me  and  inquired 
about  handkerchiefs  and  finally  purchased  some  of  them.  I 
noticed  that  he  kept  looking  at  me  more  than  the  handkerchiefs. 
We  had  a  little  conversation  during  which  he  invited  me  out  for 
dinner  that  night.  Say  Judge,  I  knew  it  was  wrong  to  accept  an 
invitation  from  a  total  stranger  but  a  good  dinner  looked  like  a 
million  dollars  to  me  right  then  for  I  had  been  eating  cheap 
lunches  and  boarding  house  dinners  so  long.  Well,  I  went  with 
him  that  night.  He  told  me  that  he  had  discerned  from  first 
meeting  me  that  I  was  a  young  lady  of  refinement  and  he  was 
interested  in  me  and  wanted  to  know  whether  my  home  was  in 
Chicago.  Upon  learning  that  it  was  many  miles  from  here,  of 
course,  I  did  not  tell  him  where,  neither  did  I  tell  him  my  real 


DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS        59 

name  but  gave  him  the  name  I  had  assumed  upon  taking  up  work 
in  the  store,  he  made  a  proposal  at  the  supper  table  that  night 
which  shocked  me,  yet  which  seemed  like  a  guiding  hand  to  an 
oasis  in  the  desert.  I  accepted  an  invitation  to  the  theatre  the 
next  night,  and  told  him  I  would  think  over  his  proposition.  Yes, 
I  thought  it  over  all  night  for  I  could  not  sleep.  Some  way  I 
must  make  enough  money  to  pay  hospital  expenses  later  on,  I 
knew.  The  very  thought  of  the  County  Hospital  or  a  free  ma- 
ternity home  appalled  me.  They  might  ask  too  many  questions 
about  my  home.  I  must  have  some  other  way.  This  man  was 
my  salvation. 

*  *  The  next  night  after  the  theatre  I  accepted  this  man,  one  of 
the  many  bearers  of  the  double  standard  of  morals,  as  my  lib- 
erator from  drudgery  and  toil  that  I  knew  sooner  or  later  I 
must  give  up  because  of  my  condition." 

As  she  spoke  her  head  had  dropped  so  low  that  the  chin 
touched  the  heaving  bosom.  Suddenly  she  raised  her  head  and 
looked  the  Judge  squarely  in  the  face.  Her  eyes,  tear-stained, 
met  the  sympathetic  blue  eyes  of  the  Judge.  She  read  there 
compassion  and  forgiveness  and  thus  continued. 

* '  Do  you  know,  Judge,  that  this  whole  base  social  evil  is  large- 
ly an  economic  question?  It  exists  because  of  those  men  who 
create  and  make  possible  the  demand  for  it,  and  those  women, 
poor  creatures,  who  are  either  the  willing  or  unwanton  victims. 

1 '  Oh,  yes  there  are  many  and  devious  paths  which  lead  to  the 
blinding  labyrinth  of  sin  where  the  girl  becomes  on  outcast  and 
the  young  man  "a  good  fellow  about  town."  The  girls  are  clas- 
sified and  unf orgiven,  while  the  young  men  unclassified  are  only 
sowing  their  wild  oats.  These  girls  and  women  are  divided  into 
two  great  classes;  the  clandestine  prostitute  and  the  commer- 
cial. One  plies  her  vocation  secretly  and  the  other  openly. 

A  BIRD  OF  BRILLIANT  PLUMAGE. 

"I  became  one  of  the  former  and  was  soon  installed  in  an 
apartment  within  one  of  the  large  houses  where  there  are  many 
gilded  cages  in  which  birds  of  brilliant  plumage  are  kept.  Kept 


60        DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

is  the  word  for  I  became  'a  kept  woman.'  I  scarcely  knew 
the  character  of  the  house.  It  was  an  establishment  which  by 
common  consent  had  been  abandoned  to  the  use  of  *  ladies' 
whose  domestic  relations  were,  to  say  the  least,  ambiguous. 
'Ladies'  in  this  condition,  as  a  rule,  are  habitually  reserved  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  their  experience,  and  I  never  got  far  be- 
yond that  period.  My  apartment  was  an  elegant  suite  of  cham- 
bers. I  scarcely  ever  went  out  in  the  day  time  for  I  had  my  own 
reasons  for  not  associating  with  others  in  the  building,  but  I  did 
not  know  then  that  they  too  had  similar  reasons  for  not  seeking 
my  acquaintance. 

"  Women  fall  in  various  ways,  some  betrayed  by  supposed 
love,  some  by  ambition,  and  others  by  want  and  necessity.  Mine 
was  neither  love  nor  ambition. 

"The  world  thinks  it  is  always  the  girl's  fault,  but  has  this 
great  surging,  now  happy,  then  cruel,  world  thought  of  the  ques- 
tion of  supply  and  demand;  the  question  of  low  wages  upon 
which  an  honest  living  cannot  be  had ;  of  the  deferring  of  mar- 
riage by  man ;  and  of  the  false  double  standard  of  morals  raised 
by  him  ? 

"Also  the  world  thinks  the  clandestines  are  ever  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  poor,  but  it  is  not  really  so.  These  girls  and  women 
come  from  every  strata  of  society.  Of  course  many  desire  ease, 
luxury  and  gay  times,  while  others  seek  the  life  of  clandestine 
prostitution  because  they  are  lazy  and  inefficient.  Those  who 
are  won  to  it  by  love,  or  by  what  they  believe  to  be  love,  are  told 
of  unhappy  marriages  by  the  men  who  pretend  to  win  their 
hearts,  and  deluded  girls,  little  knowing  the  consequences,  are 
thus  persuaded  into  illicit  associations  which  lead  more  often 
to  the  public  brothel  than  to  the  dreamed-of  some  time  marriage. 

"The  clandestines  are  difficult  to  reach.  The  law  does  not 
seem  to  attempt  it.  Social  ostracism  of  the  women  does  not 
reach  it,  because  they  willingly  ostracize  themselves  when  they 
go  into  it,  and  expect  to  join  the  social  underworld  of  their  own 
kind.  And  social  ostracism  of  the  men  who  keep  mistresses  has 
never  been  more  than  very,  very  faint-heartedly  attempted,  ow- 


DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS        61 

ing  to  the  ' whip-hand'  men  have  held  in  the  world's  economics. 
Women  have  felt  that  they  had  to  marry,  it  was  their  economic 
necessity,  or  they  thought  it  was.  And  men,  knowing  this,  have 
not  felt  the  need  of  being  scrupulous.  Therefore  girls  of  the 
tenderest  up-bringing,  the  most  unquestionable  purity,  have 
been  willingly  given  by  ambitious  parents,  or  have  given  them- 
selves, in  marriage  with  men  whose  relations  with  clandestine 
prostitutes  were  notorious. 

A  SERF  AND  A  SLAVE. 

' '  So,  Judge,  like  the  rest,  this  man  who  liberated  me  from  the 
drudgery  of  a  shop  girl  made  me  a  serf  and  a  slave  in  his  gilded 
den.  Yes,  also  like  so  many  of  his  kind  he  had  married  a  society 
girl  whose  family  knew  that  he  was  dissolute,  licentious  and 
loose  in  morals.  He  told  me  that  he  had  squandered  one  fortune 
so  he  married  to  gain  another,  and  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the 
newly  rich,  had  wedded  him  to  attain  a  social  position. 

"It  was  not  long  after  I  was  installed  in  my  new  quarters 
that  he  confided  to  me  that  he  had  kept  other  women  in  the  past, 
but  never  before  had  he  met  a  woman  he  loved  so  much  as  me. 
I  abhorred  the  sight  of  him,  but  I  was  foolish  enough  to  suppose 
that  he  loved  me,  and  I  guess  in  his  animal  way  perhaps  he  did. 
At  any  rate  as  we  were  exchanging  confidences  I  disclosed  to 
him  the  secret  that  I  had  been  betrayed,  and  would  probably 
become  a  mother  in  June.  Like  a  thunderbolt  out  of  a  clear  sky 
he  flew  into  a  fearful  rage.  He  sprang  to  his  feet  and  shook 
his  clenched  fists  in  my  face,  and  called  me  all  the  vile  names 
he  could  conjure  up  in  his  mind. 

'You  have  deceived  me,'  he  thundered,  'you  little  huzzy.  I 
ought  to  have  known  better  than  to  bring  a  hot  house  flower  out 
here.  I  might  have  known  you  were  somebody 's  cast  off  rose. ' 

"With  these  words  he  shuffled  out  of  the  room,  slamming  the 
door  behind  him.  Because  of  necessity  I  had  sacrificed  my  char- 
acter for  shelter  and  now  both  were  gone.  I  realized  like  the 
others  he  had  cast  aside  that  my  reign  was  to  end,  and  another 
would  soon  take  my  place.  There  was  no  love  in  my  heart  to 


62       DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

soften  the  pangs  of  jealousy,  nor  were  there  tender  memories  to 
subdue  a  troubled  soul.  No,  Judge,  my  heart  was  not  broken; 
but  my  very  soul  was  on  fire  with  wrath  and  madness  at  the 
cowardice  and  selfishness  of  it  all. 

"Some  place  I  had  read  that  'kept  women'  when  cast  off, 
as  they  inevitably  are  in  time,  seldom  go  back  into  the  self-re- 
specting classes  from  which  most  of  them  come,  but  practically 
always  go  downward,  and  after  a  little  time  nothing  is  left  for 
them  but  the  public  houses  of  shame.  I  resolved  right  then  and 
there  to  go  back  home,  and  'face  the  music,'  before  it  was  too 
late.  I  trembled  at  the  very  thought  of  becoming  a  bad  woman. 

"No  I  shall  be  good,  I  thought.  Like  the  prodigal  son  I  shall 
return  to  my  father,  his  prodigal  daughter. 

"Just  how  long  I  sat  there  that  evening  lost  in  thought  of 
home  I  do  not  know.  I  had  firmly  decided  to  pawn  some  of  the 
finery  my  paramour  had  lavished  upon  me  the  next  morning, 
and  leave  the  scenes  of  a  'past  life'  forever. 

"Suddenly  there  was  a  ring  at  the  bell.  Who  could  it  be?  I 
knew  my  lost  lover  had  a  key.  A  fear  came  over  me  for  never 
before  at  night  had  any  one  rung  the  bell.  Could  it  be  a  de- 
layed package  brought  from  a  store  or  the  grocery  clerk  ?  No,  I 
was  sure  it  must  be  some  one  else.  I  slipped  noiselessly  to  the 
door  and  listened.  There  was  not  a  sound.  I  opened  the  door 
and  there  stood  a  rather  tall  young  man.  Quickly  I  scanned  his 
dark  countenance.  His  face,  smooth  shaven  beamed  with  a  silly 
smile.  His  hair  was  jet  black  and  glistened  in  the  glare  of  the 
electric  lights.  The  clothes  he  wore  were  cut  in  some  freakish 
style  and  suggested  the  sport  at  first  glance. 

THE  WHITE  SLAVE  FIEND  AT  WORK. 

"What  do  you  wa-want"  I  finally  stammered. 

"Your  man  sent  me  up  here,"  he  answered. 

"And  without  waiting  further  he  pushed  himself  by  me  into 
the  reception  hall.  The  anger  that  seized  me  when  my  para- 
mour left  me  so  unceremoniously  had  subsided.  Thinking  of 
home  left  me  in  a  repentant,  yes  even  spiritual  mood.  Not  know- 


DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS         63 

ing  why  I  shrank  back  with  a  feeling  of  dismay  in  my  heart,  I 
closed  the  door  and  ushered  the  late  caller  into  the  parlor. 
There  was  really  no  explanation  for  the  terror  that  seized  me, 
and  the  lack  of  it  rendered  me  absolutely  passive.  The  young 
man  motioned  me  to  be  seated,  and  he  drew  a  chair  up  close  to 
mine. 

"  'Now  it's  a  matter  of  business  I've  come  here  on,'  he  began. 
1 1  know  your  man  and  a  lot  of  other  swell  guys  who  keep  women 
in  these  parts.  A  scrap  or  something  comes  between  a  man  and 
his  woman  every  once  in  a  while,  and  the  fracas  most  always 
ends  in  the  woman  getting  the  "G.  B."  out  of  the  house.  Well 
that's  what  is  coming  to  you.  I  heard  this  guy  of  yourn  brag- 
ging before  some  of  his  cronies  down  in  a  bar-room  near  here 
that  he  was  going  to  throw  you  out.  That  you  had  put  one  over 
on  him,  and  he  was  no  easy  mark.  Well  says  I  to  myself,  I'll 
just  go  up  and  see  that  lady.  Now  he  didn't  exactly  send  me, 
but  I  thought  maybe  I  could  do  you  a  good  turn. ' 

"I  looked  the  fellow  in  the  eyes.  He  turned  his  head  away 
and  then  gazed  for  a  moment  at  the  floor.  As  I  watched  him 
closely  I  perceived  that  he  was  of  foreign  parentage,  probably 
a  Jew,  a  Frenchman,  an  Italian,  or  perhaps  a  Greek.  The 
thought  of  my  paramour  bragging  before  his  fellow  libertines 
nauseated  me  more  than  his  despicable  cowardice. 

1  'Oh,  what  a  pity,  that  in  this  nation,  that  boasts  of  its  chiv- 
alry, this  libertine  who  would  cast  me  off,  this  man  proud  to  be 
known  as  the  sponsor  for  the  ruin  of  women,  never  once  received 
chastisement  at  the  hands  of  a  man,  of  society,  nor  of  the  law. 
Yes,  when  every  honest  man  considers  himself  the  protector  of 
every  injured  woman  then  men  of  his  type  will  mend  their  ways, 
and  will  not  do  it  out  of  sheer  cowardice.  But  until  American 
men  recover  their  souls,  libertines  may  continue  their  sport  in 
perfect  safety  unshot,  untarred-and-feathered  and  unarrested 
and  unpunished. 

"At  length  my  visitor  awakened  me  from  my  revery  by  in- 
quiring rather  good  naturedly: 

"  'Well,  what  do  you  propose  to  do,  now  my  lady!' 


64         DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

"I  answered  rather  sharply,  I  fear,  that  I  proposed  to  leave 
in  the  morning. 

"  'You  had  better  not  stay  here  tonight/  the  fellow  whispered, 
'that  guy  is  a  dangerous  man  when  he  is  mad,  and  he  is  rich  and 
has  a  big  drag.  Come  with  me,  and  I'll  take  you  to  a  swell  house 
where  you  can  make  all  sorts  of  money  and  you  can  have  finer 
clothes  than  you  have  now.  You're  no  fool,  you  know  what  I 
mean,  I  don't  have  to  work  the  love  racket  or  the  dope  game 
with  you.' 

"At  last  I  divined  his  mission.  He  was  a  pander,  a  procurer 
for  some  house  of  shame.  I  was  not  afraid  of  him  then  for  I 
had  heard  that  the  successful  pander  must  not  be  a  libertine; 
that  would  interfere  with  business;  his  motive  is  not  lust,  but 
avarice ;  his  game  is  not  ruin  of  girlhood,  unless  it  is  necessary 
to  bring  him  the  much  desired  money. 

"I  rose  to  my  feet,  pointed  to  the  door,  and  told  him  to  go 
before  I  called  a  policeman. 

"  'Policeman,'  he  jeered,  'you  make  me  laugh.  Do  you  sup- 
pose I  am  paying  my  good  coin  for  protection  for  nothing?' 

"As  he  said  that  he  leaped  at  me  and  caught  me  by  the  arms, 
threw  me  to  the  floor,  put  a  handkerchief  to  my  nose  as  I  strug- 
gled to  free  myself,  and  I  tried  to  cry  out  as  I  sank  back  into  un- 
consciousness. 

"When  I  regained  consciousness  I  was  in  a  house  of  ill  fame. 
There  I  was  kept  in  a  semi-intoxicated  condition  for  a  week  or 
more.  Now  my  character  had  been  ruined  completely,  and  I 
was  too  ashamed  to  even  write  to  my  parents  had  permission 
been  given  me.  Upon  the  books  of  the  place  I  found  charged 
against  my  name  a  debt  of  over  two  hundred  dollars  for  money 
'loaned'  the  young  fiend  who  had  procured  me  for  the  resort 
which  was  of  course  the  price  paid  for  my  soul.  Other  items 
such  as  gowns  and  clothes  of  various  description,  which  had 
been  purchased  for  me  without  my  knowledge,  were  also 
charged  against  me.  The  madam  of  this  place  informed  me 
that  it  was  the  custom  to  remain  indoors  until  my  debts  were 
paid.  Of  course  I  rebelled  against  being  detained  in  practical 


THE  PRODIGAL  DAUGHTER. 

"In  the  minds  of  her  acquaintances  the  scarlet  letter  of  sin  is  im- 
printed upon  her  breast  forever  and  instead  of  receiving  lier  with  open 
arms  they  would  kick  her  into  the  gutter." — Chapter  II. 


"THE  LOVE  GAME." 

A  pander  working  "the  love  game,"  assumes  the  role  of  a  banker's 
son  feekin-  rest  and  fresh  air.  He  hoodwinks  the  girls  by  stories  of 
great  weafth  and  position,  the  upper  part  of  the  picture  shows  the 
gay  times  promised. — Chapter  VI. 


DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS        65 

slavery  by  so  flimsy  a  bond  as  a  debt,  but  I  soon  learned  that  this 
debt  system  is  not  a  flimsy  chain  which  holds  one.  It  is  as  strong 
as  custom,  graft  and  protection  can  make  it.  However,  mine 
was  not  a  nature  to  remain  long  a  subordinate.  I  had  resolved 
that  as  long  as  I  had  fallen  about  as  low  as  woman  can  fall  that 
I  would  make  the  best  of  it,  rid  myself  of  debt  and  open  a  place 
of  my  own.  I  had  made  my  first  leap  downward  with  my  eyes 
open.  I  had  played  the  game  and  staked  all  upon  a  throw  and 
lost. 

"To  my  astonishment  the  debt  increased  weekly  instead  of 
growing  smaller.  At  last  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  a  hospital  and 
thereby  the  debt-chain  of  bondage  was  fastened  more  securely 
about  me.  The  baby  was  born.  I  found  there  were  women  who 
made  a  business  of  boarding  the  babies  of  women  of  my  class 
so  I  sent  my  little  girl  to  one  of  these  women  and  I  went  every 
day  to  see  her. 

REVENGE,  AT  LAST. 

' '  My  time  of  revenge  at  last  came.  The  man  who  is  here  be- 
fore you,  Judge,  did  not  know  when  he  came  to  this  city  and 
visited  one  of  the  fashionable  houses  here  that  I  was  one  of  its 
attractions.  This  defendant  here  who  started  me  on  the  road  to 
ruin  did  not  know  that  in  this  great  city  I  had  fallen  very  low ; 
yes  he  was  ignorant  of  the  unfathomable  abyss  that  yawns  for 
women  whom  men  socially  ruin ;  he  did  not  know  that  I  had  been 
outlawed,  in  a  country  of  laws,  with  a  price  upon  my  head ;  no, 
he  knew  not  that  laws  were  abrogated  and  public  officials  were 
blind  in  order  that  the  most  dastardly  wrongs  might  be  per- 
petrated upon  women  in  my  condition.  He  was  just  bent  upon 
his  same  old  pleasures  selfishly  helping  to  increase  the  demand 
which  poor  souls  like  mine  must  supply. 

"I  saw  him  enter,  but  he  did  not  see  me.  Quickly  I  darted 
between  curtains  into  an  adjoining  room.  The  next  morning 
still  found  him  there  sleeping  off  the  drunken  stupor  of  the  night 
before.  Hurriedly  I  slipped  down  to  the  Harrison  Street  Court 
for  now  I  was  a  trusted  inmate  and  could  go  and  come  as  I 


66       DOUBLE  STANDARD  OF  MORALS 

pleased.  A  warrant  for  his  arrest  upon  the  charge  of  bastardy 
was  quickly  obtained,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  policeman. 
A  five  dollar  bill  oiled  the  policeman  so  that  he  moved  with 
lightning  rapidity.  Into  a  cab  we  jumped  and  soon  both  of  us 
stood  over  the  prostrate  form  of  the  father  of  my  child. 

"Here  he  is  Judge  before  you  for  judgment.  I  have  told  my 
story  from  beginning  to  the  end." 

The  Judge  wiped  his  eyes,  but  said  not  a  word.  With  a  wave 
of  his  hand  he  motioned  the  defendant  to  the  witness  chair. 
The  man  who  had  caught  himself  in  his  own  trap,  of  course, 
denied  the  responsibility  of  being  a  father.  The  Judge,  how- 
ever, thought  otherwise  and  found  him  guilty.  The  sentence 
passed  upon  this  man  was  the  highest  sentence  the  law  of  the 
state  imposes. 

"You  are  guilty  of  the  charge,"  said  the  Judge,  "and  you 
are  ordered  to  pay  for  the  support  of  your  child  the  sum  of  five 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  One  hundred  dollars  the  first  year 
and  fifty  dollars  each  succeeding  year  for  nine  years." 

"But  the  child  cannot  be  supported  on  that  amount,"  inter- 
rupted the  mother. 

"I  know  it,"  the  Judge  replied,  "but  that  is  the  law,  and  I 
must  follow  it." 

What  a  travesty  is  our  justice,  sometimes,  and  what  a  farce 
the  law.  In  the  eyes  of  the  law  of  the  state,  a  child  at  the  age 
of  ten  years,  who  is  born  of  unlawful  wedlock,  is  presumed  to 
be  self  supporting,  and  no  longer  a  charge  upon  its  father. 

That  father  came  and  went  as  so  many  fathers  do.  Back  in 
his  home  city  people  never  knew  he  was  the  father  of  a  living 
child,  perhaps.  He  was  free  of  all  care  for  a  paltry  five  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars.  His  duty  to  society  was  done,  while  the 
poor  little  mother  passed  out  of  the  court  with  the  scarlet  let- 
ter "A"  printed  upon  her  breast  forever;  she  the  victim  of  the 
double  standard  of  morals ;  he  the  standard  bearer  of  a  life  < 
duplicity,  cowardice  and  hypocrisy. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  A  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR  OF  GIRLS. 

The  Astounding  Confession  of  Paul  Sinclair — Twelve  years  devoted  to  pro- 
curing girls  for  houses  of  shame — His  Redemption — Bearing  his  own 
Cross— A  Revolting  Confession. 

The  most  forceful  commentary  on  the  fallacy  of  the  double 
standard  of  morals  which  exists  at  this  time  is  the  confession  of 
Paul  Sinclair. 

For  years  this  man  was  a  white  slave  trader,  and  later  be  be- 
came one  of  the  most  ardent  fighters  against  this  awful  traffic 
in  human  beings. 

As  a  reformed  pander  he  started  out  to  devote  his  life  to  the 
work  of  protecting  and  saving  girls  from  the  snares  of  the  white 
slave  procurers. 

He  says :  "I  am  passing  through  my  i Garden  of  Gethsemene' 
now,  and  must  drain  my  cup  to  the  dregs.  Perhaps  a  little  sun- 
shine might  filter  through  to  me  occasionally,  if  it  does  it  will  be 
because  of  a  consciousness  that  I  am  trying  to  save  some  poor 
creature  from  at  least  a  part  of  the  misery  that  I  have  caused  for 
others. " 

Paul  Sinclair  being  well  educated,  having  received  a  fine  col- 
lege training,  was  one  of  the  most  clever  procurers  that  operated 
in  the  United  States.  His  bold  career  in  this  dastardly  work  was 
brought  to  halt  when  he  was  arrested  in  Chicago.  Kindness  and 
fair  dealing  and  not  over  zealous  punishment  brought  about  his 
reform. 

"I  lived  a  life  of  lust,  greed  and  avarice,"  he  says.  "I  have 
used  every  device  known  to  procure  girls  for  houses  of  shame, 
and  I  have  compelled  others  to  go  out  on  the  streets  and  get 
money  for  me  when  the  weather  was  so  bitter  and  stormy  that  I 

67 


68  FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

wouldn't  think  of  permitting  my  dog  to  leave  the  house,  and  since 
my  reform  it  has  all  come  back  to  me  many  times.  What  brutes 
men  are  with  the  women  who  love  them.  Show  me  a  bad  woman 
and  I'll  show  you  a  man  who  made  her  bad.  Yes  and  I'll  show 
you  a  man  who  might  have  saved  her." 

In  the  past  few  years  there  have  been  many  confessions  made 
by  panders  of  girls  for  immoral  resorts.  But  none  of  them  re- 
veals more  astounding  facts,  and  details  the  tricks  employed  by 
these  men  and  women  more  clearly  than  does  the  following  con- 
fession by  Paul  Sinclair : 

"Now  I  want  the  truth  without  any  frills  or  flourishes.  This 
moment  is  a  crystalized  determination  to  break  up  pandering. 
I  won't  give  you  any  more  than  you  deserve,  but  you  must  tell 
me  the  absolute  truth." 

This  was  my  introduction  to  Clifford  G.  Eoe  and  instead  of 
meeting  a  fierce  individual  with  a  bristling  beard  and  mustache 
and  horns  and  raucous  voice,  etc.,  I  was  surprised  to  face  a  quiet, 
mild  mannered  young  man  very  nearly  my  own  age.  True  he 
had  an  air  of  decision  and  his  square  jaw  impresed  me  with  the 
fact  that  here  was  a  man  who  wouldn't  stand  for  anything  but 
the  square  dealing  he  is  evidently  determined  to  hand  out  to 
the  men  and  women  his  position:  forces  him  to  prosecute. 

There  wasn't  any  attempt  made  to  bully  me,  nor  was  I  threat- 
ened ;  still  an  uneasy  feeling  assailed  me  and  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  in  this  particular  instance  I  was  not  intentionally  guilty 
of  pandering,  I  knew  that  the  new  Illinois  law  affected  my  case 
and  that  a  prosecutor  determined  to  secure  a  conviction  might 
send  me  '  over  the  road. '  I  had  met  a  girl  in  a  St.  Paul  house  of 
prostitution,  who  was  anxious  to  visit  Chicago  and  as  that  was 
my  destination,  I  was  glad  to  have  her  accompany  me  there. 
Shortly  after  our  arrival,  she  decided  to  go  into  a  disreputable 
house  and  the  problem  of  securing  board  was  a  hard  one,  made 
especially  so,  under  the  new  ruling  which  compels  these  houses 
to  send  for  the  police  and  have  the  new  candidates  booked,  i. 
e.  her  name,  age  and  former  location  investigated.  I  knew  one 
of  the  keepers  of  a  house  on  Armour  Avenue  and  telephoned  her 


FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR  69 

to  meet  me  in  a  saloon  nearby  where  the  situation  was  explained 
to  her ;  she  agreed  to  coach  my  protege  in  what  she  had  best  say 
to  the  police  and  the  rest  was  easy.  Shortly  afterward  a  sup- 
posed friend  of  mine  notified  the  authorities  and  I  was  appre- 
hended as  a  complaint  had  been  made.  I  was  locked  up  over 
one  night  at  the  Harrison  Street  Police  Station  and  charged 
with  *  disorderly  conduct.'  In  the  morning  I  was  discharged. 
Mr.  Roe  has  succeeding  in  shaming  me.  Perhaps  the  fact  that 
no  decent  man  had  ever  interested  himself  in  my  welfare  before 
may  have  awakened  anew  in  me  a  desire  to  get  away  from  the 
life  that  I  have  so  often  despised,  but  have  never  before  found 
the  strength  to  fight.  Immediately  after  my  dismissal  from  the 
police  court,  I  made  an  appointment  with  Mr.  Roe  for  the  fol- 
lowing morning.  During  the  interview  with  me,  I  volunteered 
to  aid  him  in  his  fight  for  decency.  He  has  my  pledge  that  I 
will  keep  out  of  the  district.  I  have  secured  a  position  as  an 
insurance  solicitor  and  the  Red  Light  Dstrict  has  seen  the  last 
of  Paul  Sinclair. 

THE  ASTOUNDING  CONFESSION. 

I  was  born  on  Easter  Sunday,  1875,  in  T ,  Ohio.    My 

home  influence  was  a  good  one  and  every  effort  was  made  to 
give  me  (the  oldest  of  five  children)  a  good  education.  When 
I  was  twelve  years  old,  I  was  seized  with  an  uncontrollable  de- 
sire to  travel  around  and  see  the  world.  My  first  trip  landed 
me  in  Cleveland,  where  I  purchased  a  boot  blacking  outfit  and 
adopted  that  vocation. *  My  parents  were  crazed  with  grief  over 
my  sudden  and  mysterious  disappearance  and  had  the  country 
flooded  with  placards  giving  a  minute  description  of  my  cloth- 
ing and  personal  characteristics.  Four  months  later,  I  dis- 
covered one  of  these  cards  tacked  to  a  telegraph  pole  and  while 
I  was  trying  to  tear  it  down  a  Cleveland  policeman  came  along, 
spied  me  and  comparing  me  with  the  description  I  was  trying 
to  destroy,  made  the  discovery  that  I  was  the  boy  described. 
He  took  me  to  the  central  police  station  where  I  was  turned 
over  to  the  care  of  a  matron  and  my  parents  notified  by  tele- 


70  PEOM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

graph  of  my  apprehension.  My  father  hastened  to  Cleveland 
and  as  I  had  no  other  alternative  I  returned  home  with  him. 
Shortly  afterward  I  ran  away  again.  This  time  to  Chicago, 
where  I  finally  secured  a  position  as  bell  boy  and  night  clerk  at 
the  old  Douglas  House  on  the  Levee  on  State  Street.  No  such 
dives  exist  in  these  days.  Old  timers  '  on  the  line '  will  tell  you 
that  I  must  have  had  an  ideal  start  there,  for  the  work  that  I 
was  destined  to  carry  on  eleven  years  later.  Why  before  I 
was  thirteen  years  old  I  could  *  stall  a  sucker'  (who  had  been 
paneled)  with  the  best  of  them.  One  of  the  inmates  of  this 
resort,  Cora,  a  woman  nearly  forty  years  old,  deciding  that  I 
was  too  valuable  a  stalling  commodity  to  be  let  run  loose,  dis- 
carded her  lover  and  promoted  me,  a  thirteen  year  old  boy  to 
that  proud  position.  Shortly  afterward  I  was  taken  ill  with 
typhoid  fever.  One  of  the  men  in  the  house  took  me  out  on  the 
street  and  'lost'  me.  I  was  found  (how  many  days  later  only 
God  knows)  and  taken  to  the  County  Hospital,  where  one  of  the 
physicians  got  my  confidence  and  persuaded  me  to  tell  him  who 
my  people  were  and  where  they  lived.  Again  I  was  returned 
to  my  home  and  the  tender  nursing  of  my  mother,  soon  restored 
me  to  health  and  strength.  No  word  of  my  Chicago  experiences 
ever  passed  my  lips  and  I  had  entirely  forgotten  them  until  I 
learned  of  Cora's  suicide  ten  years  later.  When  I  was  about 
fourteen  years  old,  my  father  was  elected  Alderman  of  his 
ward  and  became  a  leader  of  his  party  in  that  city.  During 
this  time  I  was  daily  attending  school  and  graduated  from  high 
school  before  I  was  seventeen.  During  my  last  two  years  at 
high,  I  was  captain  of  the  High  School  base  ball  team,  which 
won  the  state  High  School  championship  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in 
1892.  My  work  on  the  team  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention 

STUDYING  FOR  THE  MINISTRY. 

and  a  brilliant  future  was  predicted  for  me,  should  I  decide  to 
play  ball  professionally.  I  graduated  in  1892  and  after  a 
year's  preparatory  course  entered  a  theological  seminary  where 
I  studied  diligently  for  four  years.  The  theological  course 


FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR        71 

usually  covers  seven  years,  although  it  is  possible  for  one  to  ac- 
cept a  candidacy  for  ordination  any  time  after  the  fourth. 
During  my  last  year,  several  of  the  boys  on  the  ball  team  (of 
which  I  was  again  captain)  proposed  visiting  a  disorderly  house 
in  the  town  nearby  and  six  of  us  decided  to  make  the  trip.  In 
so  far  as  I  could  learn,  we  were  the  first  university  boys  who 
had  ever  visited  the  house.  One  of  our  number  was  a  good 
pianist  and  seating  himself  before  the  music  box,  he  began 
hammering  " After  the  Ball,"  which  was  one  of  the  popular  airs 
of  that  time.  Soon  he  was  playing  the  old  hymns;  in  a  spirit 
of  deviltry  I  jumped  to  my  feet,  and  climbing  aboard  a  chair  I 
began  to  harangue  the  *  ladies'  in  old  time  revivalist  fashion. 
The  landlady  was  furious,  declaring  that  we  were  *  putting  a 
Jonah '  on  the  house,  etc.  However,  there  wasn't  a  possiblity 
of  our  being  ejected  so  long  as  our  money  held  out.  The 
other  boys  getting  into  the  spirit  of  the  thing  held  a  genuine  re- 
vival and  converted  all  of  the  girls,  who  were  by  this  time  in  a 
hysterical  condition.  There  were  six  boys  absent  from  chapel 
and  studies  the  next  morning,  all  members  of  the  ball  team. 
The  story  leaked  out  about  a  week  later  and  when  it  reached 
the  ears  of  the  faculty,  we  six  were  taken  before  the  dean.  As  I 
look  back  over  the  wasted  years,  I  can  see  that  sweet  voiced 
gentle  old  chap  (quite  the  purest  man  I  have  ever  known)  his 
benevolent  face  convulsed  with  pain  and  grief.  For  the  first 
time  we  were  struck  with  the  enormity  of  our  offense.  The  old 
fellow  was  magnificent.  After  he  had  brought  us  to  a  realizing 
sense  of  the  wrong  we  had  done  to  our  university  and  to  him,  he 
left  us  to  our  consciences,  as  he  expressed  it.  Not  a  word  was 
said  about  punishment  of  any  sort  and  I  had  many  times  been 
compelled  to  translate  a  whole  book  (chapter)  of  the  Iliad  for 
offenses  so  trivial,  that  there  was  no  comparison.  We  were  a 

DISMISSED  FROM  SCHOOL. 

shame  faced  crowd  as  we  left  the  old  dean's  quarters  and  had 
the  matter  rested  here,  I  am  sure  we  would  all  have  tried  to 
make  amends,  during  the  rest  of  our  stay  there.  The  board 


72  FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

took  a  hand,  however,  and  because  of  the  fact  that  I  was  captain 
of  the  team,  I  was  looked  on  as  the  ring  leader  and  dismissed 
from  the  school.  I  was  afraid  to  go  home  and  face  my  father. 
I  couldn't  bear  the  thought  of  the  reproach  which  I  knew  I 
would  see  in  the  dear  eyes  of  my  mother.  I  didn't  dare  to  go 
home.  After  I  had  packed  my  luggage  I  started  for  town,— 
my  chums  too  loyal  to  let  me  go  alone — bravely  started  out  with 
me,  each  one  bent  on  carrying  some  of  my  effects.  When  I 
climbed  aboard  the  train,  the  lads  went  with  me  and  after  they 
had  seen  to  it  that  I  was  made  as  comfortable  as  possible,  they 
all  filed  out  and  stood  on  the  platform.  As  the  conductor  called 
'All  aboard,'  the  boys  started  singing  'Auld  Lang  Syne,'  and  I 
don't  think  any  of  us  were  ashamed  of  our  tears. 

After  drifting  around  until  I  had  spent  the  last  of  my  allow- 
ance, I  found  myself  in  Springfield,  Illinois,  where  I  secured  a 
job  as  brakeman  on  the  C.  &  A.  E.  E.  I  had  a  coal  run  to 
Bloomington  and  after  I  had  been  working  a  few  weeks,  I 
formed  a  strong  friendship  for  a  chap  named  Lloyd,  who  had 
the  same  run  with  me.  One  afternoon  we  had  been  drinking  in 
Moll  Drennan's,  a  notorious  resort  in  Springfield,  and  Lloyd, 
in  attempting  to  turn  a  brake  wheel  that  night  lost  his  balance 
and  fell  between  the  cars  just  as  we  were  pulling  out  of  the 
yards.  I  was  an  eye  witness  to  the  accident  and  as  I  stopped 
the  train  and  we  were  backing  into  the  city  with  poor  Lloyd's 
mangled  body  in  the  caboose,  I  decided  then  and  there  that  I 
was  never  cut  out  for  railroading.  Securing  the  pay  due  me,  I 
went  to  Chicago,  where  I  was  employed  in  a  candy  factory,  until 

I  had  enough  money  to  visit  my  home.     T was  then  in 

the  old  Interstate  base  ball  league  and  the  manager  was  having 

A  PROFESSIONAL  BASEBALL  PLAYER. 

a  hard  time  of  it  trying  to  plug  up  a  bad  hole  at  third  base.  As 
soon  as  he  learned  of  my  arrival  home,  (he  had  been  watching 
my  work  on  the  field  at  school)  he  offered  to  give  me  a  trial  at 
third.  This  was  the  position  I  had  always  played  and  I  soon 
worked  my  way  into  the  team  play.  I  hit  over  300  that  summer 


FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR         73 

and  was  sold  to  Indianapolis  in  the  Western  League.  This  team 
controlled  by  W.  W.  Watkinds,  sold  me  to  Barney  Dreyfuss 
(who  was  then  managing  the  Louisville  National  League  team). 
The  National  League  at  that  time  was  composed  of  twelve  teams 
and  the  old  time  ball  players  usually  made  it  very  uncomfort- 
able for  a  youngster,  just  breaking  into  fast  company.  I 
couldn't  understand  the  hostile  attitude  of  some  of  the  older 
members  of  the  club  and  in  sheer  disgust,  packed  my  suitcase 

and  hied  me  to  T .     On  my  arrival  there  I  called  on  Sobel 

who  told  me  that  I  had  better  return  to  Louisville,  as  I  was  a 
member  of  that  team  and  couldn't  play  anywhere  else  until  I 
secured  my  release  from  Dreyfuss.  In  disgust  I  enlisted  in  the 
regular  army  and  was  assigned  to  the  Sixth  U.  S.  cavalry,  and 
sent  to  F.  W.  YellowstoneA  at  the  National  Park.  The  Spanish- 
American  war  broke  out  shortly  afterward  and  I  was  wounded 
at  Santiago.  I  received  three  bullet  wounds,  in  this  engage- 
ment, and  while  home  on  furlough  I  learned  that  I  had  been  ap- 
pointed a  sergeant.  During  my  convalescence  I  visited  several 
houses  of  ill  fame.  Later  one  evening  I  came  upon  a  little  girl 
in  one  of  the  resorts  who  was  sobbing  bitterly.  After  telling 
her  who  I  was  and  assuring  her  that  I  would  protect  her,  she 
confided  to  me  that  she  was  a  new  arrival,  that  she  had  been 
sold  to  the  keeper  by  a  pander,  who  had  procured  her  in  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana.  She  told  me  that  the  man  who  brought  her 
to  T-  —  had  been  paid  $50  which  was  charged  against  her 
account.  The  landlady  had  then  called  in  a  peddler  who  fitted 
her  out  with  silk  underwear,  hose,  shoes,  and  parlor  gowns, 
bringing  her  bill  up  to  a  total  of  nearly  $200.00.  When  she  had 
requested  the  keeper  to  grant  her  a  night  off  she  was  informed 
that  she  would  not  be  permitted  to  leave  the  house  under  any 

A  WHITE  SLAVE  RESCUER. 

circumstances  until  she  had  cleared  her  indebtedness.  At  this 
juncture  the  landlady  interfered  and  ordered  the  girl  (Grace) 
to  her  room.  I  remonstrated  and  was  told  to  attend  to  my  own 
affairs.  This  enraged  me  and  I  told  the  keeper  that  I  would 


74  FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

report  her  to  the  police.  She  laughingly  replied,  'Why,  if  you 
dare  to  meddle  in  my  affairs,  I  '11  have  a  talk  with  your  dad  and 
he  is  getting  too  many  nickels  out  of  this  '  Old  Time '  to  permit 
his  nice  little  son  to  interfere  with  his  graft. '  Bushing  to  the 
phone  I  called  for  the  Central  police  station  and  informed  them 
of  the  circumstances.  'I  will  make  an  investigation  in  the 
morning,'  replied  the  desk  sergeant.  'But,  I  am  Alderman  Sin- 
clair's son  and  I  demand  that  this  woman  be  released  imme- 
diately. If  you  don't  act,  by  God,  I  will,'  I  insisted.  'I  will 
send  an  officer!  over  right  away,'  said  the  sergeant. 

On  the  plain  clothes  man's  arrival,  he  was  inclined  to  treat 
the  matter  as  of  no  moment.  The  landlady  suggested  our  ad- 
journing to  her  room  to  talk  it  over,  but  the  poor  frightened 
little  creature  begged  so  piteously  not  to  be  left  alone,  that  I  de- 
termined on  having  it  out  on  the  spot.  Both  the  officer  and 
keeper  tried  to  persuade  me  to  let  the  matter  rest  until  the  next 
day,  but  wasn't  taking  any  chances  after  having  observed  the 
significant  glances  passed  between  the  two  on  the  officer's  ar- 
rival. I  insisted  on  the  girl 's  release  and  went  with  the  keeper, 
officer  and  Grace  to  her  room,  where  a  trunk  was  hastily  packed. 
The  officer  assisted  me  to  the  sidewalk  with  the  trunk  and  I  sat 
on  it  while  Grace  telephoned  for  a  cab.  It  was  early  morning 
before  I  succeeded  in  securing  accommodations  for  her. 

HIS  SWIFT  DOWNWARD  COURSE. 

What  a  difference  a  few  hours  make  in  a  man's  life.    Little 

did  I  dream  wher.  I  entered  Helen  D 's  bagnio  that  night 

that  I  was  swinging  into  the  swiftest  current  of  my  already 
eventful  life.  But  such  was  the  case.  My  love  for  Grace  topped 
everything  else.  I  forgot  everything,  even  my  duty  to  my 
country.  Neither  of  us  had  any  funds,  while  I  wasn't  even 
possessed  of  a  suit  of  civilian  clothing.  Having  deserted  from 
the  army,  it  was  dangerous  for  me  to  remain  in  my  home  town, 
so  we  decided  to  move  on  to  Cleveland.  Our  stay  in  Cleveland 
was  a  short  one  and  we  went  to  Buffalo,  where  we  spent  the  win- 
ter. During  our  stay  in  Buffalo,  I  worked  as  a  model,  posing 


PROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR  75 

for  local  artists  in  the  studios.  In  the  spring,  we  ^ent  to  New 
York  City  where  Grace  became  well  known  as  a  '  panel  hustler  * 

in  the  joints  operated  by  Sallie  L—  -  and  Alice  D .  Through 

necessity  and  bad  companions  I  had  caused  her  to  become  a 
prostitute  again  and  became  her  cadet.  During  this  time  I  was 
kept  pretty  busy  posing  at  art  schools  and  for  local  artists. 

One  night  on  my  arrival  home  from  work,  I  was  informed 
that  Grace  had  gotten  off  a  'big  touch'  and  gone  to  Philadelphia. 
I  followed  her  there.  As  the  bank  roll  was  quite  large,  there 
wasn't  any  necessity  for  my  securing  employment.  In  Phil- 
adelphia we  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Jewess  who  called  her- 
self Hazel  M .  This  girl  was  addicted  to  the  use  of  opium 

and  by  the  time  I  had  learned  to  cook  the  stuff,  I  had  contracted 

AN  OPIUM  FIEND. 

the  habit.  Grace  becoming  disgusted  with  the  change  in  me, 
one  morning  ran  to  Pittsburgh  and  after  a  few  weeks  I  had 
pawned  my  clothing  and  jewelry  and  had  nothing  left  but  my 
opium  layout.  I  was  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  work  and 
soon  became  one  of  the  regular  habitues  of  Philadelphia's 
Chinatown.  Occasionally  I  would  see  some  of  my  former  friends 
who  were  visiting  the  district  and  having  become  lost  to  all  sense 
of  shame,  I  would  invariably  accost  them  and  beg  from  them  a 
few  nickels  with  which  to  purchase  'hop'.  I  still  had  my  cir- 
cle of  friends  who  would  come  to  my  room  and  provide  the  usual 
two  bit  card  of  'pitch,'  always  with  the  understanding  that  I 
was  to  permit  them  to  a  'laydown  and  smoke  with  me.' 

Among  my  regular  visitors  was  a  landlady,  Edna  G ,  by 

name.  This  woman  was  very  liberal  and  would  usually  give 
me  ten  dollars,  with  which  to  purchase  opium,  lunch  and  fruit. 
I  would  generally  see  to  it  that  there  was  a  balance  of  five  or  six 
dollars  which  I  called  rainy  day  money.  Believe  me,  there 
weren't  many  women  with  Edna's  liberality  visiting  my  room. 
One  night  while  I  was  'doing  the  honors'  (cooking)  for  this  wo- 
man and  some  of  her  friends,  the  subject  of  procuring  girls 
came  up  and  Edna  suggested  that  I  was  just  the  type  of  man 


76        FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

who  could  make  a  success  of  that  work.  'Why,  I  would  give 
$100.00  tonight  for  a  well  educated  girl  of  good  appearance,  who 
could  sing  and  play  the  piano,  as  well  as  entertain  my  friends. ' 
You  have  a  good  education  and  I'll  provide  you  with  a  new 
'front'  and  stake  you  to  enough  money  to  get  out  of  town  if 
you'll  work  for  me,  besides  paying  you  liberally  for  each  girl 
you  secure.'  'I  have  three  houses  going  and  I  don't  want  girls 
whose  homes  are  in  Philadelphia,  as  their  people  always  make 
it  so  uncomfortable  for  me  and  it  gives  those  grafting  coppers 
and  politicians  so  many  opportunities  to  'shake  me  down.' 

A  WHITE  SLAVE  TRADER. 

The  next  morning  found  me  on  my  way  to  Easton,  Pa.,  where 
I  inserted  an  advertisement  in  the  paper,  which  read  as  follows : 

WANTED :  Lady  partner  for  vaudeville  sketch — one  who  can  sing  and  play  piano 
preferred.  Must  have  good  appearance.  Will  furnish  wardrobe  for  stage  and  street. 

I  secured  three  answers  to  this  'ad'  and  as  two  of  the  girls 
were  quite  good  looking  I  had  them  give  me  a  specimen  of  their 
ability.  One  I  furnished  with  transportation  to  Philadelphia 
and  wired  my  employer  to  meet  her  at  the  Broad  W.  Station. 
The  other  I  'stalled'  until  the  next  day  when  I  took  her  to  'my 
sister's  house'  in  Philadelphia,  where  she  was  to  board  until 
I  had  properly  schooled  her  for  the  part  she  was  to  play  in  '  our 
sketch. '  Edna  met  us  at  the  depot  with  a  closed  carriage  and 
after  I  had  introduced  her  to  the  girl  as  'my  sister,'  we  took  her 
to  the  Tenth  Street  house.  The  other  one  had  been  taken  to  the 
Arch  Street  house.  That  night  I  was  $150.00  richer  for  my 
work  and  it  looked  like  a  very  easy  and  profitable  business  for 
me. 

GIRLS  FURNISHED  "TO  ORDER." 

It  may  interest  the  reader  to  learn  how  the  new  candidate 
is  finally  induced  to  lead  a  life  of  shame,  and  with  your  permis- 
sion I'll  digress  for  a  moment  and  make  you  acquainted  with 
that  detail  of  the  pander's  work.  In  most  cases,  be  it  known, 
that  the  virtuous  girl  is  not  desirable.  There  are  many  girls  a 


FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR        77 

bit  wayward,  who  are  more  tractable,  provided  they  can  be  se- 
cured young  enough.  Of  course,  the  landlady  may  have  'an 
order  *  for  a  girl  who  is  unquestionably  virtuous.  In  that  case, 
the  procurer  has  his  orders  and  knows  how  to  act.  The  first 
duty  of  the  'man  ahead'  then,  is  to  find  out  the  disposition  of  the 
girl  he  has  ' landed.'  Usually  a  little  supper  and  some  wine  will 
make  him  acquainted  with  the  character  of  his  victims.  After 
she  reaches  her  new  home  the  'sister'  acquaints  her  with  the 
fact  that  she  has  some  gentlemen  calling  that  evening  and  that 
she  would  like  her  'brother's'  partner  to  assist  her  in  the  en- 
tertaining. These  supposed  gentlemen  are  of  course  wise  to 
the  fact  that  there  is  a  new  girl  and  that  they  must  be  very  care- 
ful, unless  she  proves  unusually  easy.  Again  the  wine  is 
brought  into  play  and  the  girl  following  the  lead  of  the  'sister' 
sometimes  gets  into  the  spirit  of  the  thing  and  the  rest  is  easy. 
In  any  event  she  meets  well  dressed  gentlemen  of  means,  gen- 
erally good  looking  and  often  young  enough  to  be  interesting. 
Sometimes  she  is  drugged  (almost  always  where  she  is  a  virgin) 
and  the  next  morning  she  awakens  to  find  that  she  is  practically 
a  slave  in  a  house  of  shame.  Now  it  all  depends  from  this 
juncture  upon  the  actions  of  the  girl.  If  she  doesn't  seem  to  be 
particularly  shocked,  the  landlady  comes  forward  with  a  pleas- 
ant greeting.  There  is  such  an  air  of  camradarie  about  the  wo- 
man that  the  young  girl  is  usually  relieved  of  her  embarrass- 
ment and  the  landlady  usually  admits  that  she  is  the  owner  of  a 
house  where  nice  men  come  and  pay  liberally  for  their  enter- 
tainment. That  it  is  possible  for  the  girl  to  always  wear  beau- 
tiful gowns  and  have  plenty  of  money,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
dandy  times  she  will  have.  Then  the  other  girls  are  brought 
into  the  picture  and  they  bring  all  their  persuasive  powers  to 
bear.  Sometimes  the  new  girl  is  disgustingly  easy. 

The  'hard  ones'  have  a  much  harder  road  to  travel  and  some- 
times the  girl  is  fearfully  illtreated  by  these  wretches  and  fre- 
quently she  is  badly  beaten  into  the  bargain. 

On  my  arrival  in  Philadelphia  from  my  first  trip  as  a  pander 
I  visited  the  old  haunts  around  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eace  Streets. 


78  FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

My  first  purchase  was  a  can  of  'hop'  and  after  laying  in  a 
supply  of  fruit,  I  invited  my  friends  to  join  me  in  a  party.  I 
had  a  large  room  on  Tenth  Street  near  Vine  and  it  was  well 
filled  with  men  and  women  (many  of  them  glad  to  get  a  place  to 
spend  the  night)  who  got  out  their  cocaine  and  bernays  and 
prepared  to  'plant*  until  the  morning.  Taking  the  mattresses 
off  the  bed  and  spreading  quilts  over  them,  I  got  the  layout  and 
after  lighting  the  lamp,  the  crowd  loosened  their  clothing  and 
lying  around  each  with  his  or  her  head  in  the  lap  of  the  other, 
the  can  of  opium  on  the  tray,  I  proceeded  to  cook  for  the  party, 
giving  each  one  a  pill  in  turn,  ('The  chef  always  smokes  the 
first  one/)  until  the  pipe  returned  to  me.  As  the  smokers  would 
become  satiated  with  the  drug  they  would  fall  asleep,  until  only 
the  'habit*  smokers  were  left.  We^laid  ^nd_^l^s^tories,  each  - 
one  in  turn  indulging  in  some  reminisence  touching  on  their 
past.  The  girls  would  tell  how  they  had  'turned  out'  and  oc- 
casionally some  late  comer  would  arrive  and  after  giving  the 
signal  knock  would  be  admitted.  Eest  assured  that  the  late 
comer  would  invariably  be  a  woman,  who  had  been  less  for- 
tunate than  her  sisters  and  was  compelled  to  stay  on  the  street 
until  she  had  obtained  enough  money  for  her  lover  to  entitle 
her  to  a  'laydown.'  As  news  would  reach  us  that  some  woman 
had  been  pinched,  her  lover  would  quietly  leave  the  party  and  go 
out  in  search  of  a  bondsman,  or  some  ward  politician  with 
enough  pull  to  secure  the  release  of  the  girl. 

PROCURED  EIGHT  GIRLS  ON  ONE  TRIP. 

Soon  my  money  was  gone  and  I  made  another  trip  to  the 
country.  This  time  to  Allentown  and  Bethlehem.  My  mission 
this  time  was  to  procure  girls  of  a  more  common  type  and  again 
the  newspapers  assisted  me.  My  'ad'  on  this  occasion  was  as 
follows : 

WANTED:  Chorus  girls  for  a  burlesque  company.  Good  pay  and  promotion  for 
those  willing  to  work;  experience  unnecessary. 

In  two  days  I  secured  and  shipped  to  Philadelphia  eight  at- 
tractive, rosy  cheeked  girls  who  were  lured  by  the  call  of  the 


FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR        79 

stage.  Stage  struck  girls  were  easier  to  break  in  because  they 
are  not  usually  very  strong  willed  and  girls  of  this  class  are  as 
a  rule  lazy  and  want  to  make  money  without  soiling  their  hands. 
I  have  found  that  there  is  very  little  'fly  in  the  ointment  *  for 
this  particular  class.  They  take  to  the  life  easily  and  soon 
learn  to  give  their  money  to  some  worthless  fellow  even  more 
lazy  and  shiftless  than  they  are  themselves. 

One  of  these  girls,  Mable,  succeeded  in  making  her  escape 
from  the  Arch  Street  house  early  one  morning  and  as  she  had 
no  money  with  which  to  purchase  transportation  she  wandered 
around  on  the  streets  until  she  ran  into  a  policeman  with  a 
conscience  and  this  officer  directed  her  to  the  officers  of  the 
Law  and  Order  people  to  whom  she  told  her  story.  I  was 
given  the  tip  by  a  local  politician  that  a  warrant  had  been  issued 
for  my  arrest  and  I  immediately  proceeded  to  get  into  com- 
munication with  Edna  who  gave  me  letters  of  introduction  to 

Carrie  S of  Chicago  and  Ethel  S of  Pittsburgh.     The 

letters  were  unsealed  and  read  as  follows : 

Dear  Madam:  The  bearer,  Paul  Sinclair,  is  an  adept  at  procuring  girls  for  our 
purpose.  Just  tell  him  what  you  want  and  rely  on  him.  He  is  reasonable  in  his 
charges  and  very  clever  at  'priming5  the  girl.  My  housekeeper  permitted  one  of 
Sinclair's  recent  importations  to  get  away  from  me  and  he  is  leaving  Philadelphia 
until  I  can  get  'squared'!  Very  sincerely  yours,  EDNA  G.— . 

With  these  letters  in  my  possession,  I  fled  to  Pittsburgh. 
Ethel  welcomed  me  with  open  arms  and  after  telling  me  what 
purpose  the  girls  were  to  be  trained  for,  I  left  Pittsburgh  going 
to  Altoona  where  I  secured  the  girls  then  wanted,  working  along 
the  same  lines  as  before. 

PROCURING  GIRLS  IN  ILLINOIS. 

My  next  stand  was  Chicago,  where  I  called  on  Carrie  and 
presented  my  letters  of  introduction.  'You  are  just  in  time 
Mr.  Sinclair.  I  want  several  new  girls  as  soon  as  possible. 
Get  them  as  young  as  possible  and  the  more  cultured  they  are 
the  better  I'll  be  pleased.  Try  and  get  me  girls  who  can  play 
the  piano  and  sing/ 


80        FROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR 

My  first  jump  was  to  Decatur  where  I  secured  four  at- 
tractive young  women.  Later  at  a  certain  town  I  caught  the 
daughter  of  the  editor  of  the  newspaper  which  contained  my 
'ad'.  At  Springfield,  I  got  two  more,  but  one  of  the  Decatur 
girls  had  succeeded  in  advising  her  relatives  of  her  predica- 
ment and  I  had  a  very  narrow  escape  from  the  police.  I  left 
town  on  a  freight  train  and  kept  on  going  until  I  reached  St. 
Louis  where  I  got  into  communication  with  my  employes  and 
received  the  money  due  me  for  my  work.  St.  Louis  was  suffer- 
ing from  the  effects  of  a  reform  spasm  and  all  male  musicians 
had  been  barred  from  the  houses.  This,  of  course,  created  a 
demand  for  women  who  could  entertain,  and  I  had  only  to  make 
my  identity  known  to  the  various  keepers  and  there  was  plenty 
for  me  to  do. 

One  night  my  opium  joint  was  raided,  while  I  was  living  at 
No.  -  -  Washington  Avenue,  St.  Louis,  and  I  had  to  pay  a 
$100.00  fine  to  get  free.  As  the  Judge  gave  me  twenty-four 
hours  in  which  to  leave  town  and  I  left  inside  of  an  hour  I  still 
feel  that  I  have  twenty- three  hours  coming  to  me  there. 

Cincinnati  didn't  impress  me  very  favorably  as  the  landladies 
there  weren't  educated  up  to  my  standard  of  prices.  So  I 
caught  an  excursion  train  to  Atlantic  City  and  spent  the  summer 
there  framing  up  a  new  modus  operandi,  as  the  work  was  too 

profitable  for  me  to  consider  getting  out  of  it  entirely.    I  posed 

jt 

THE  LURE  OF  THE  STAGE. 

as  a  theatrical  manager  that  summer  and  caught  many  an  un- 
wary stage  struck  girl.  As  they  were  in  most  cases  visitors  to 
the  resort,  I  was  taking  small  chances  of  being  caught  and  in 
fact  did  not  have  a  'rumble'  during  all  the  time  I  was  there. 

Edna  G had  squared  me  in  Philadelphia  and  I  was  at  liberty 

to  go  there,  which  I  occasionally  did.    I  made  the  'Hurley 
House'  (a  theatrical  hotel)  my  headquarters  when  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  many  times  supplied  my  clients  from  among  the 
guests  of  that  hotel. 
I  succeeded  in  effecting  a  reconciliation  with  Grace  during 


"THE  THEATRICAL  SCHEME." 

This  is  the  most  usual  scheme  used  !>y  white  Blave  traders.  They 
pose  as  theatrical  managers  and  go  even  into  the  homes  of  their  victims 
to  try  their  voices,  etc.  They  are  smooth  talkers  and  tell  what  a  great 
future  awaits  her.  She  leaves  home  and  in  a  few  days  finds  herself  a 
white  slave. — Chapter  X. 


"THE  DRUMMER,  OR  TRAVELING  MAN  WAY." 

When  a  pander  strikes  a  rural  community  he  must  work  very 
smoothly,  for  every  one  knows  that  he  is  a 'stranger.  He  poses  as  a 
drummer  or  traveling  man,  and  seeks  the  girls  in  this  way,  promising 
a  fine  time  at  balls,  parties,  etc.  Once  in  his  power  she  is  lost. — Chap- 
ter VI. 


PROM  PANDER  TO  PROTECTOR        81 

the  fall  of  that  year,  and  we  lived  on  Twelfth  Street  near  Race, 
but  she  soon  left  me  again  and  when  I  followed  her  back  to 
Pittsburgh  she  informed  me  that  she  had  tired  of  playing  second 
fiddle  to  an  opium  layout,  and  was  done  with  me.  Allow  me 
to  say  that  during  all  the  years  which  have  intervened  since 
Grace  left  me  I  have  never  known  a  woman  so  faithful,  so  noble 
as  she.  Over  this  one  woman  I  had  the  power  to  make  of  her 
good  or  evil,  and  I  chose  the  latter.  Is  it  any  wonder  then  that 
in  the  still  watch  of  the  night  I  dream  of  her  and  awake  to  find 
myself  alone ;  that  I  go  on,  heart  hungry  with  the  want  of  her. 
I  lived  a  life  of  lust,  greed  and  avarice,  etc. 

I  am  passing  through  my  *  Garden  of  Gethsemane'  now  and 
must  drain  my  cup  to  the  dregs.  Perhaps  a  little  sunshine 
may  flitter  through  to  me  occasionally,  if  it  does  it  will  be  be- 
cause of  a  consciousness  that  I  am  trying  to  save  some  poor 
creature  from  at  least  a  part  of  the  misery  that  I  have  caused 
for  others  and  have  had  for  myself. 

What  a  juggler  of  souls  fate  is. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS. 

Paul  Sinclair's  work  of  Atonement— His  great  fight  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio- 
Forming  organizations  to  protect  girls— Arousing  the  church  people — A 
noble  letter  from  a  girl  saved  by  Paul — Conversion  of  other  slave  traders. 

What  greater  proof  of  the  existence  of  white  slavery  than  the 
foregoing  confession  by  Paul  Sinclair.  In  its  very  frankness  it 
is  heartrending.  To  the  reader  it  would  seem  that  this  confes- 
sion could  never  atone  for  the  wrongs  he  has  heaped  upon  young 
girls  and  for  the  cloud  he  has  cast  upon  civilized  society.  Yet 
he  became  a  zealous  fighter  in  combating  the  white  slave  evil,  and 
a  fearless  speaker  upon  this  subject  before  the  people. 

After  working  for  awhile  in  Chicago,  subsequent  to  his  re- 
form, Paul  Sinclair  went  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  to  aid  those  who 
were  forming  an  organization  to  protect  girls  from  white  slave 
traffickers. 

The  man  who  had  been  so  bold  as  a  procurer  was  just  as  bold 
in  championing  the  cause  against  the  panders. 

At  one  time  the  authorities  of  Cincinnati  gave  him  twenty- 
four  hours  to  get  out  of  town,  but  he  did  not  go.  He  remained 
and  talked  and  fought  until  he  succeeded  in  enlisting  the  aid  of 
many  influential  citizens  in  the  white  slave  cause.  He  spoke  in 
at  least  half  a  hundred  churches,  arousing  the  people  to  the 
enormity  and  extent  of  the  traffic  in  girls. 

As  this  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  the  excellent  results  his  con- 
version and  the  conversion  of  other  slave  traders  have  brought 
about,  it  may  be  proper  at  this  time  to  read  a  letter  from  one  of 
the  girls  saved  from  the  life  of  a  white  slave  by  Paul  Sinclair 
since  he  started  to  work  in  Ohio.  When  the  letter  was  written 
the  girl  was  staying  at  the  Catherine  Booth  Home  in  Cincinnati. 

82 


CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS       83 

The  officers,  Staff  Captain  and  Ensign  mentioned  are  salvation 
army  officers  connected  with  this  home. 


"  CINCINNATI,  Ohio,  Nov.  5,  1910. 
" Dear  Paul: 

"Just  a  line  to  tell  you  how  nicely  I  am  getting  along.  I  have 
begun  to  see  things  in  your  way  now  and  you  may  be  sure  I  am 
very  glad  you  persuaded  me  to  stay  on  here  at  the  home.  As  I 
told  you  when  you  were  here  everybody,  both  officers  and  girls, 
are  very  kind  to  me.  I  never  knew  people  could  be  so  nice,  so 
good  one  to  another. 

"Oh  yes,  I  want  to  tell  you  about  the  girl  that  was  going  with 
me  to  Toledo.  Staff  Captain  found  a  nice  place  for  her  just  two 
blocks  from  the  home  where  she  can  run  over  two  or  three  times 
a  day.  She  likes  the  place  very  much  and  is  awfully  glad  we  lis- 
tened to  you.  Paul  I  can  never  thank  you  enough  for  getting  me 
away  from  that  place,  and  making  me  to  see  how  wrong  it  was 
for  me  to  live  as  I  did  there.  You  need  never  worry  about  me 
going  back  to  that  life.  I  really  abhor  even  the  thought  of  such 
baseness.  I  was  talking  about  the  tenderloin  with  Ensign  the 
other  day.  She  was  terribly  shocked  at  the  things  I  told  her.  I 
never  dreamed  there  was  a  woman  living  that  didn't  know  of 
these  things.  I  would  give  the  rest  of  my  life  if  I  could  say  I  had 
never  been  there ;  that  I  knew  nothing  of  that  life.  But  I  will 
live  so  that  people  will  forget  the  past  or  in  remembering  it  will 
only  connect  it  with  the  perfect  life  I  shall  lead  in  the  future. 
Oh,  if  everybody  did  know  the  awful  shame  and  degradation  of 
such  a  life  there  would  surely  be  very  few  girls  l  on  the  line. ' 

"Write  to  me  just  as  often  as  you  can.  Your  letters  are  a 
great  strength.  And  pray  for  me  Paul  that  I  may  find  the  way. 
to  Christ.  I  feel  that  is  the  only  happiness  to  be  had  in  this 
world  as  well  as  the  hope  of  eternal  blessings. 

As  ever, 

HELEN." 


84       CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS 

If  Paul  never  did  another  thing  but  save  this  one  soul  from 
despair  he  would  have  atoned  for  his  own  misdeeds.  But  he 
did  not  stop  there.  He  stirred  the  city  of  Cincinnati  as  it  was 
never  stirred  before  upon  a  moral  problem. 

Politicians  and  police  were  jarred  into  a  sudden  activity. 
Some  of  the  citizens  were  pulled  bodily  from  the  slumbering 
arms  of  protection  and  graft  and  were  thus  awakened  to  the 
true  condition  of  public  morals. 

The  pioneer  in  any  great  reform  must  needs  be  patient  and 
suffer  much,  so  Paul  labored  and  suffered,  often  times  not  hav- 
ing sufficient  food  and  as  winter  came  on  he  was  cold  from  lack 
of  proper  clothing.  Some  good  people  supplied  him  with  an 
overcoat.  Such  were  the  privations  that  a  reformed  pander 
endured.  Certainly  he  was  passing  through  his  "Garden  of 
Gethsemene. ' ' 

What  a  temptation  it  must  have  been  to  him,  when  those 
who  professed  to  be  good  citizens  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his 
pleadings  for  social  righteousness,  to  go  back  to  the  old  life 
where  luxury,  gaiety  and  money  would  be  his  for  the  asking. 
If  ever  a  man  struggled,  this  man  did,  and  it  must  be,  even  in 
this  day  of  his  second  repentance,  a  source  of  pride  to  know  that 
he  fought  and  won. 

PAUL'S  FIGHT  IN  CINCINNATI. 

Through  his  efforts  the  Cincinnati  Vigilance  Society  came 
into  life,  and  grew  into  great  importance.  We  shall  hear  more 
of  its  achievements  when  we  read  the  report  of  its  able  secre- 
tary, Leonard  O.  Watson,  later  in  chapter  twenty-three. 

The  man  who  fights  and  fights  hard  will  make  enemies,  and  so 
this  crusader  against  the  traffic  in  girls,  Paul  Sinclair,  became  the 
target  for  abuse  by  politicians,  police  and  many  citizens.  He 
had  stepped  on  too  many  toes  and  influential  citizens  sought  to 
have  financial  support  withdrawn  from  the  Cincinnati  Vigil- 
ance Society  as  long  as  Paul  was  connected  with  it.  This  man 
was  willing  to  be  sacrificed  for  a  cause  and  left  Cincinnati  for 
other  fields  of  endeavor.  He  visited  many  towns  and  cities  ill 


CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS       85 

Ohio  and  Kentucky,  and  finally  wound  up  at  Louisville.  Here 
he  met  his  Waterloo. 

He  started  to  organize  a  crusade  against  the  girl  traffic  in 
Louisville,  and  in  the  usual  way  began  by  making  speeches  upon 
the  subject  before  representative  groups  of  people.  One  of 
these  meetings  was  held  at  the  Home  For  Friendless  Women 
and  reporters  were  excluded.  A  woman  present  gave  a  re- 
porter some  information  concerning  the  meetings  and  either  this 
woman,  or  the  reporter,  got  the  facts  twisted,  and  the  outcome 
of  it  was  that  Paul  was  arrested  upon  the  charge  of  criminal 
libel. 

He  was  hustled  off  to  the  police  station,  searched  and  his 
photograph  taken  for  the  rogue's  gallery.  The  latter  act  be- 
ing clearly  against  the  law. 

ARRESTED  AND  EXONERATED. 

There  was  a  trial  at  which  the  managing  editor,  the  city 
editor,  and  the  reporter  of  the  paper  which  printed  a  report  of 
the  meeting  exonerated  Paul.  Also  Miss  Nettie  Smith,  super- 
intendent of  the  Home  For  Friendless  Women,  was  called  to  the 
witness  stand.  Miss  Smith  said: 

"I  attended  the  meeting  and  heard  Mr. talk.  It  was 

the  first  time  I  had  ever  met  him.  During  his  address  he  did 
not  refer  to  either  of  the  Whallen  brothers,  but  afterward  he 
was  asked  if  he  knew  who  owned  property  in  the  vice  district. 
He  answered  hesitatingly:  *I  understand  that  a  little  man  by  the 
name  of  Whallen  owns  some  of  it.'  " 

Upon  being  questioned  further,  Miss  Smith  stated  positively 
that  Paul  did  not  make  the  remark  attributed  to  him.  Fol- 
lowing Miss  Smith  other  women  testified  in  his  behalf. 

Witnesses  offered  did  not  prove  that  Paul  made  the  statement. 
Even  the  prosecuting  attorney  was  staggered  by  the  vindica- 
tion and  sought  to  change  the  charge  of  criminal  libel  to  that  of 
disorderly  conduct. 

According  to  the  Courier-Journal,  Mr.  Robinson  said: 


86  CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS 

" is  as  guilty  of  the  charge  of  criminal  libel  as  if  he  had  written  the 

article  himself.  I  claim  he  is  directly  responsible.  If  this  is  not  libel,  it  is  the  most 
disorderly  conduct  I  ever  heard  of,  and  if  the  court  does  not  think  that  we  have 
made  out  our  case  the  defendant  should  be  punished  for  disorderly  conduct." 

The  Louisville  Evening  Post  very  humorously  said  in  reference  to  the  above 
statement:  "Evidently  it  is  disorderly  conduct  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  the 
Whallens  anywhere  in  Buckingham  province." 

Paul  was  held  to  the  Grand  Jury  by  Judge  Boldrick,  but  thus 
far  the  Grand  Jury  has  never  indicted  him. 

Downhearted  because  of  later  developments  in  his  career  in 
Louisville,  Paul  has  given  up  an  active  warfare  against  the 
panders,  but  his  work,  especially  in  Cincinnati,  will  live  on  for 
many  years  to  come.  He  paid  the  penalty  of  being  over  zealous 
and  perhaps  too  often  sensational  in  his  work.  Let  us  hope  he 
may  find  new  courage,  and  as  the  years  roll  on  he  may  continue 
to  be  a  useful  soldier  in  the  long  battle  for  social  purity. 

THE  STARTLING  CONFESSION  OF  WILLIAM  SIMES. 

Like  Paul  another  slave  trader  who  reformed  and  became 
of  great  value  in  the  cause  against  the  traffic  in  girls  was  Will- 
iam Simes. 

William  was  converted  to  the  cause  by  Harry  A.  Parkin,  as- 
sistant United  States  District  Attorney  in  Chicago.  Since  that 
time  he  has  helped  in  a  way  which  called  for  great  sacrifice  and 
even  bravery.  The  following  is  a  statement  or  confession,  if 
you  please  to  call  it  that,  in  his  own  words,  which  he  made  under 
oath. 

"While  tending  bar  down  town  in  a  saloon,  called  Heine- 

gabubler's  Joke  House,  owned  by  Tom  Collier,  at State 

Street,  I  got  acquainted  with  some  Frenchmen  one  day  in  Oc- 
tober, 1908.  They  walked  in  the  place,  and  were  buying  several 
drinks.  Before  leaving  one  of  them,  Joe  Michel,  got  into  a  con- 
versation with  me,  telling  me  I  was  a  good  live  bar  tender,  and 
a  lot  of  bunk  like  that.  Later  he  asked  me  how  I  would  like 
to  tend  bar  for  him.  I  asked  him  where  at  and  he  told  me,  up 
in  the  red  light  district. 

"I  asked  him  what  the  hours  were  and  he  told  me  from  one 


CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS       87 

o'clock  to  one  o'clock,  and  seven  days  a  week.  I  hesitated  at 
first,  but  when  he  told  me  that  he  would  pay  me  twenty-one 
bones  (dollars)  a  week  I  began  to  think  it  was  some  money,  as  I 
was  only  getting  fifteen  dollars  where  I  was  working,  so  I  told 
him  I  would  call  on  him  the  next  day  and  talk  it  over. 

"I  called  upon  him  as  I  promised,  and  made  a  bargain  so  I 
started  to  work  for  him  the  following  Monday  in  his  notorious 

saloon  called  the  Paris  at Armour  Avenue.     This  place  is 

right  in  the  heart  of  the  red  light  district. 

CHICAGO'S  WHITE  SLAVE  CLEARING  HOUSE. 

"  After  being  there  a  short  time  I  became  acquainted  with 
all  the  inmates  of  his  place  for  the  saloon  was  connected  by  an 
open  door  with  the  house  of  ill  fame  of  the  same  name.  Michel 
run  both  of  them.  Well,  in  fact,  the  saloon  was  just  the  corner 
room  of  the  sporting  house,  and  it  was  all  one  place. 

"Soon  some  of  the  inmates  began  to  tell  me  their  stories 
which  I  listened  to  as  it  was  something  new  to  me.  These  girls 
have  a  pretty  tough  time  of  it,  and  when  they  told  me  about 
being  caught  by  pimps  and  brought  there  I  was  surprised  for  I 
thought  there  was  no  such  thing  in  existence  as  white  slavery, 
but  there  is  all  right. 

"The  Frenchman  soon  became  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  girls 
were  telling  me  their  troubles,  and  he  told  me  to  mind  my  own 
business,  and  I  could  not  work  for  him  if  I  kept  on  talking  to  the 
girls  of  the  house.  He  was  in  fear  I  would  become  too  well  ac- 
quainted with  them,  and  would  want  to  take  them  out  and  help 
them  get  away. 

"I  soon  learned  that  the  girls  in  a  good  many  of  these  houses 
were  being  brought  to  these  places  by  panders,  some  of  them 
having  several  girls  in  different  places  and  getting  their  money 
for  selling  the  girls,  generally  direct  from  the  proprietor. 

MAURICE  VAN  BEVER  BUYS  A  PLACE. 

"Well  after  a  while  Michel  was  arrested  by  the  federal  au- 
thorities and  Maurice  Van  Bever  bought  the  place.  This  Van 
Bever  was  another  Frenchman  who  came  to  Chicago  from  New 


88  CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS 

York  about  four  years  ago.  He  had  a  lot  of  women  there  too, 
and  I  heard  he  got  closed  up  and  had  to  get  out  of  town.  Eight 
back  of  the  ' Paris'  is  the  l White  City,'  another  sporting  house 
and  saloon  combination.  Van  Bever  had  bought  the  *  White 
City'  from  a  Frenchman  named  Mathew  Sairs,  who  is  living  on 
Eighteenth  Street  near  the  lake  now. 

"When  Van  Bever  bought  the  Paris  he  sent  me  over  to  the 
' White  City'  to  tend  bar  and  I  was  there  a  month,  then  he 
brought  me  back  to  the  i Paris.'  This  fellow  was  a  white  slave 
trader  right,  and  he  got  me  into  the  business  with  him.  He 
had  more  pimps  and  panders  hanging  around  his  place  than 
anybody  else  for  he  had  the  headquarters  for  the  white  slave 
trade.  Say,  he  was  smooth  and  protected  up  to  the  teeth  by 
the  police. 

GIRLS  BROUGHT  FROM  MANY  PLACES. 

"Now  there  was  a  fellow  by  the  name  of  L.  Davis,  or  L. 
Dorrin,  as  he  sometimes  called  himself.  He  brought  girls  from 
Danville  and  Eock  Island,  Illinois,  and  from  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri. One  girl  from  Eock  Island  in  particular  I  felt  awful 
sorry  for  because  she  was  such  a  good  innocent  girl.  Then 
there  were  Billy  Berger  and  Frenchie  Tolman  who  were  bring- 
ing in  girls  from  Ohio,  mainly  from  Columbus.  Both  of  these 
lads  were  bold  and  smooth  at  the  business  of  getting  girls. 

"Berger  picked  up  an  acquaintance  with  a  girl  whose  name 

was  Florence at  a  skating  rink  in  Columbus,  Ohio.  Upon 

some  fake  story  or  pretense  he  brought  her  to  Chicago  and  sold 
her  to  Van  Bever.  Later  on  she  ran  away  and  went  to  live 
with  her  uncle  and  aunt  up  in  Milwaukee.  Also  this  Berger 

married  Ethel  from  Columbus,  Ohio,  he  couldn't  land 

her  any  other  way,  and  he  put  her  in  the  Paris.  Those  fellows 
thought  no  more  of  marrying  a  girl,  or  drugging  her  than  they 
did  of  eating  their  supper. 

"Dick  Tyler  brought  a  whole  bunch  of  girls  from  St.  Louis. 

I  cannot  remember  all  the  names ;  there  was  Julia ,  and 

Minnie ,  who  was  a  good,  decent  girl  when  he  got  her, 

and  a  lot  of  others. 


CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS       89 

"Mike  Hart  and  the  rest  of  the  gang  generally  worked  be- 
tween Chicago  and  St.  Louis. 

"When  the  girls  were  brought  in  they  were  always  put  in 
debt  to  the  house,  and  had  to  stay  there  and  work  it  out.  The 
account  of  the  girls  were  kept  in  a  book  by  the  landlady,  and 
the  girls  would  go  over  the  accounts  with  the  landlady  once  a 
week,  which  was  called  making  books.  Their  books  were  us- 
ually kept  in  this  manner: 

"The  girls  caught  and  brought  in  by  panders  were  charged 
up  on  the  books  with  the  money  it  cost  to  get  them  by  the  pro- 
curers, sometimes  the  cost  of  landing  the  girls,  including  rail- 
road fare,  amounted  up  to  twenty-five  to  fifty  dollars.  Then  to 
this  was  added  the  money  paid  the  pander  for  the  purchase  of 
the  girls,  or  for  his  selling  them.  Then  all  his  other  expenses 
were  charged  to  the  girls. 

"The  landlady  would  then  buy  house  clothes  for  the  girl, 
having  a  man  call  who  made  it  a  business  to  sell  clothes,  etc.,  to 
girls  in  houses  of  ill  fame.  The  landlady  would  pay  him  per- 
haps five  or  eight  dollars  for  a  gown,  aad  she  would  charge  the 
girl  ten  to  twenty  dollars  for  the  same  gown.  Shoes  were 
bought  for  two  dollars  and  a  half,  the  girl  being  charged  five 
dollars  for  them.  Hose  was  bought  for  twenty-five  and  fifty 
cents,  the  girl  being  charged  fifty  cents  and  a  dollar.  Powder 
and  toilets  were  bought  for  twenty-five  cents,  and  they  would 
be  charged  fifty  cents  for  it.  Girls  very  seldom  got  out  of  debt. 
When  they  were  nearly  out  of  debt  they  soon  would  have  to  pur- 
chase another  dress  and  outfit.  They  would  have  to  make 
fifteen  dollars  every  week  before  they  were  allowed  any  credit 
on  their  book,  this  being  for  board,  as  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar 
went  to  the  house  at  all  times.  A  doctor  would  call  once  a 
week  to  examine  all  of  the  girls.  The  house  would  pay  the 
doctor  fifty  cents  for  each  girl,  but  the  girl  was  charged  one 
dollar  every  week.  I  have  known  them  to  get  their  examina- 
tion card  when  the  doctor  would  not  even  see  them.  The  card 
would  be  marked  in  this  form. 


90  CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS 

"  'This  is  to  certify  that  on  this day  I  have  examined  Mies 

find  her  free  from  all  disease.    Signed  Dr.  .' 


"If  girls  got  intoxicated  and  got  sick,  or  went  into  a  fit  and 
they  could  not  take  care  of  them  they  would  send  for  the  doctor 
who  would  inject  something  in  their  arm,  and  if  they  would 
not  go  to  sleep  I  have  seen  them  abuse  them. 

"When  the  government,  or  some  of  the  officials  were  around 
looking  for  girls  from  foreign  countries,  they  would  send  them 
away  at  night,  sending  some  one  with  them  to  watch  them  that 
they  would  not  talk  to  strangers.  I  have  heard  city  detectives 
tell  them  to  get  them  away  as  soon  as  possible,  and  when  they 
thought  things  were  clear  they  would  bring  them  back  again. 
When  girls  were  brought  there  they  would  always  come  late  at 
night,  or  early  in  the  morning  when  the  streets  were  quiet. 
The  pimp  close  on  their  heels.  Then  the  proprietor,  or  the 
landlady,  would  send  for  the  officers  who  booked  the  girls.  The 
girls  would  at  first  be  instructed  how  to  answer  the  officers.  I 
have  known  girls  to  be  as  young  as  sixteen  and  they  were  told  to 
tell  them  that  they  were  older,  and  been  in  the  sporting  business 
before  in  some  other  town  or  city,  the  girls  always  having  to 
give  some  other  name.  After  being  booked  they  were  learned 
how  to  rope  and  get  the  money.  They  were  allowed  one  day  off 
a  week,  but  not  alone,  always  sending  a  pimp  with  them  to  see 
that  they  did  not  run  away.  This  would  be  done  till  they  were 
sure  that  she  would  return  herself. 

"At  one  time  in  the  fall  of  1909  a  pimp  went  to  Danville,  Illi- 
nois, after  girls. '  The  following  day  this  fellow,  whose  name 
was  sometimes  L.  Davis  and  sometimes  L.  Dorrin,  sent  a  tele- 
gram that  he  had  been  arrested  there  and  needed  money.  The 
proprietor,  Maurice  Van  Bever,  not  trusting  him  asked  me  if  I 
would  take  the  money  to  him.  I  got  the  money  and  took  the  next 
train  to  where  he  was.  I  was  not  long  in  finding  the  police 
station,  finding  him  there.  From  there  he  took  me  to  where  he 
had  the  girl  and  introduced  me-  to  her.  Then  I  gave  him  the 
money.  The  proprietor  wanted  me  to  bring  her  back  with  me, 
but  I  came  back  alone  as  Davis  said  he  would  come  with  her  next 


CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS  91 

day.  The  following  afternoon  he  called  up  the  saloon  and  said 
he  got  in  trouble  again  and  could  not  come,  but  that  the  girl 
was  on  her  way,  and  would  arrive  at  such  a  time,  and  as  I  knew 
her  by  sight  he  wanted  me  to  meet  her  and  take  her  to  the  resort 
where  I  worked.  Not  thinking  anything  of  it,  I  went  to  the 
station  and  met  her  and  took  her  in  a  cab  to  the  resort,  the 
pander  coming  the  following  day. 

HOW  ONE  GIRL  ESCAPED. 

"At  another  time  Van  Bever  sent  for  me  early  one  morning. 
I  thought  the  morning  bartender  was  sick  or  had  quit.    I  soon 
hustled  to  the  saloon  meeting  the  proprietor  in  the  place.    He 
then  told  me  that  a  pander  with  a  girl  were  to  come  from  St. 
Louis,  but  was  arrested  the  night  before  at  the  depot,  and  the 
case  was  to  come  up  that  morning.    He  told  me  that  he  thought 
the  pander,  Thomas  Braun  would  be  sent  to  jail,  and  the  girl  dis- 
charged, and  that  there  might  be  a  chance  to  get  the  girl  after 
the  case  was  over.    We  got  down  to  the  station  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, meeting  two  city  detectives  from  the  22d  Street  station 
whom  I  well  knew.    One  of  these  detectives  took  us  in  and  told 
us  he  would  show  them  to  us  as  soon  as  their  case  came  up. 
When  it  came  up  before  the  Judge  the  detective  told  us  that  this 
was  the  girl,  and  he  pointed  her  out  to  us,  and  said  if  she  was 
discharged  there  might  be  a  chance  to  get  her.    We  then  went 
out,  Van  Bever  telling  me  to  stand  across  from  the  station  and 
keep  under  cover  where  I  could  watch  the  station  door,  and 
when  she  came  out  I  was  to  follow  her  until  she  got  away  from 
the  station,  then  I  was  to  take  her  to  a  certain  corner  where  the 
proprietor  would  meet  me.     The  detective  kept  us  posted  during 
the  trial,  but  the  pander,  Braun,  was  sent  to  jail,  and  the  girl 
was  taken  to  the  railroad  station  by  an  officer,  and  a  ticket  pur- 
chased for  her,  and  she  was  sent  home.     The  proprietor  got 
nothing  and  I  lost  my  morning  sleep.    The  proprietor,  and  also 
the  detective,  were  very  much  disappointed. 

"When  there  were  to  be  newspaper  reporters  around,  the  de- 
tectives would  come  in  and  tell  us  to  keep  the  girls  away  from 


92       CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS 

the  bar.  At  one  time  two  detectives  came  in  and  told  us  that 
the  Captain  was  around  in  the  district  with  a  newspaper  auditor. 

PROTECTED  BY  OFFICERS. 

I  told  the  housekeeper  this,  and  kept  the  bells  hot  which  we  had 
under  the  bar  to  signal  the  girls  in  the  rear.  In  about  fifteen 
minutes  the  proprietor  came  in  and  said  it  was  all  right.  I  then 
rang  the  bell  for  the  girls  to  come  to  the  bar  room  door  to  rope. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  Captain  and  auditor  entered  by  the  side 
door  catching  three  girls  and  the  landlady  roping  men  in  the 
saloon.  The  Captain  came  to  the  bar  and  asked  for  the  pro- 
prietor, and  when  I  said  he  was  not  in  at  present,  he  told  me  to 
come  along  which  I  had  to  do.  When  I  got  to  the  station  I 
called  up  and  had  Van  Bever  come  down,  the  Captain  taking  us 
in  his  office  and  calling  us  down,  telling  us  that  when  he  gave  us 
an  inch  we  would  take  a  foot.  We  then  went  back  to  the  saloon 
only  to  do  the  same  thing  again. 

"I  have  seen  panders  beat  their  girls  so  that  they  would  not 
be  able  to  get  out  of  bed  for  a  week.  Sometimes  it  would  be  for 
not  making  enough  money,  other  times  for  being  sick.  Tickets 
were  always  on  the  go  from  the  railroad  ticket  offices  to  panders 
for  girls,  by  wire,  and  if  they  failed  to  come  I  was  sent  down  to 
have  them  cancelled  and  get  the  money  back. 

"Detectives  were  always  given  the  best  to  drink  and  smoke 
as  often  as  they  would  come  in.  I  have  seen  Detectives  come  in 
early  in  the  morning  and  go  in  the  parlors  and  sit  around  with 
the  girls  and  drink  sometime  for  an  hour  at  a  time.  If  new  de- 
tectives were  sent  in  the  district  and  were  to  stay  for  any  length 
of  time  they  were  soon  made  acquainted  with  the  bartender,  and 
proprietor. 

WHAT  BECAME  OF  THE  GIRL'S  LETTERS. 

;The  mail  that  came  for  the  girls  was  never  given  to  them 
direct,  as  we,  the  bartenders,  were  ordered  to  give  it  to  the  pro- 
prietor, or  to  her  pimp  who  would  examine  it  first.  I  have  seen 
them  open  letters  and  if  they  were  all  right  they  were  resealed 


CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS  93 

and  given  to  the  girls.  If  they  were  from  some  one  who  wanted 
her  to  come  home  they  were  destroyed. 

"When  it  would  come  time  for  election  we  were  told  how  to 
vote,  and  to  register  from  the  place  where  we  worked  so  as  to 
be  in  the  first  ward.  Sometimes  there  would  be  six  to  eight 
register  from  this  place,  about  two  of  them  that  were  living 
there.  I  lived  out  of  that  ward  myself,  but  was  told  it  would  be 
all  right.  When  it  came  time  to  vote  I  went  to  the  poles  and  was 
handed  a  ticket,  and  when  I  went  in  to  vote  a  man  took  my  ticket 
and  marked  it  for  me,  and  all  I  had  to  do  was  to  fold  it  up  and 
drop  it  in  the  ballot  box.  I  do  not  even  know  how  I  voted  as  I 
thought  I  would  work  for  the  interest  of  my  boss. 

"Drinks  were  always  sold  in  the  parlor  without  fear.  I 
served  beer  and  whiskey  whenever  any  one  came  in  and  wanted 
a  drink.  They  were  expensive,  twenty-five  cents  a  drink.  Of- 
ficers never  interfered.  If  there  were  any  of  the  Midnight 
Missionary  workers  around  and  would  enter  all  the  lights  would 
be  turned  out  and  the  girls  would  be  chased  up  to  their  rooms 
till  they  would  leave.  Then  they  would  turn  the  lights  on  again. 
If  they  would  stop  in  front  of  the  place  and  talk  to  the  passers 
by  the  proprietor  would  get  very  angry  as  it  hurt  his  business 
for  some  time.  On  Saturday  nights  he  would  hire  cabs  just  to 
stand  in  front  of  the  place  to  keep  them  from  holding  religious 
meetings  in  front  of  the  place.  The  most  of  the  time  girls  were 
not  allowed  to  use  the  phone  or  answer  it  when  some  one  called 
them  up.  I  have  stood  by  the  phone  and  would  hear  the  landlady 
answer  it,  or  she  would  have  the  housekeeper  answer  it  pretend- 
ing to  be  the  girl  who  was  wanted. 

"If  a  man  would  get  intoxicated  and  he  was  a  good  spender 
and  could  pay  with  a  check  they  would  let  him  go  to  sleep  and 
run  up  a  bill  for  him  while  he  slept,  making  the  amount  two  and 
three  times  more  than  it  was.  If  there  was  any  one  who  would 
call  to  see  the  same  girl  too  often  and  they  thought  he  might 
try  to  take  her  away  he  would  not  be  allowed  in  the  place  again, 
and  if  he  would  come  back  he  would  get  a  beating,  and  if  he 
would  complain  to  the  officers,  the  officers  would  come  in  with 


94  CONVERSION  OF  SLAVE  TRADERS 

him  and  ask  what  the  trouble  was.  Maurice  Van  Bever,  the 
proprietor,  would  tell  them  that  the  fellow  was  trying  to  get  one 
of  his  girls  out.  The  detectives  would  tell  him  to  beat  it,  or  he 
would  get  in  bad. 

"Only  those  that  have  a  girl  and  will  put  her  in  the  house 
can  tend  bar  and  work  for  sporting  house  proprietors  like  Van 
Bever. " 

The  foregoing  confession  marks  the  conversion  of  another 
slave  trader.  These  fellows  are  not  always  altogether  bad,  and 
often  make  our  best  fighters  against  the  panders  when  con- 
verted. Very  often  they  fall  into  the  business  through  vicious 
associations  and  environment,  in  fact  environment  plays  an 
important  part  in  every  life. 

However,  a  large  majority  of  these  rascals,  in  the  business  of 
trading  in  human  beings,  can  never  and  will  never  be  reformed. 
They  are  frequently  addicted  to  the  use  of  cocaine,  gum  opium 
and  morphine,  or  they  smoke  "hop."  Half  the  time  they  lie 
around  some  joint  in  a  drunken  stupefied  state,  the  other  half 
they  are  out  looking  for  somebody's  daughter  to  trick  into  sin. 

Of  course,  many  of  the  panders,  both  men  and  women,  are 
cold-blooded,  heartless  and  mercenary,  who  neither  pity  nor 
spare,  but  carry  on  their  base  traffic  deliberately  for  money. 

Not  one  of  these,  as  we  shall  see  later,  was  William  Simes. 
He  was  just  a  big,  good  natured,  easily  led  fellow,  with  sufficient 
manhood  to  realize  in  time  that  it  was  all  rotten  and  wrong. 
We  shall  hear  more  of  him,  but  now  let  us  see  who  are  these 
daughters  who  are  caught  in  the  pander's  trap.  Where  do  they 
come  from  usually,  and  who  are  these  demons,  without  heart  or 
soul,  who  capture  them? 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

Piteous  appeals  from  parents — "Will  you  please  help  me  find  my  daughter?" 
—The  Author's  office  besieged  daily— "If  any  one  ruined  my  sister  I 
would  take  my  own  revenge" — Every  girl  is  somebody's  daughter — 
Someone  loves  her — Every  girl  is  worth  saving— "Whose  daughter  art 
thou?  Can  I  help  her?" — Stories  of  girls  showing  how  they  are  misled. 

The  confessions  of  the  white  slave  traders  have  revealed  how 
easily  girls  are  caught  in  the  traps  set  for  them.  Every  day 
girls  disappear  and  are  lost  to  their  friends  and  families,  in  most 
cases  forever.  It  is  quite  a  usual  item  of  news  in  our  daily 
papers  to  read  that  some  father  or  mother  is  seeking  to  find  a 
daughter.  Oftentimes  large  rewards  are  offered  for  them. 

The  societies  and  organizations  working  against  the  traffic  in 
girls  are  besieged  with  letters  from  parents.  In  many  instances 
photographs  are  enclosed,  "Will  you  please  help  me  find  my 
daughter  ?"  is  the  usual  appeal.  These  organizations,  many  of 
them  employing  detectives,  do  try  and  try  hard  to  locate  the  mis- 
sing girls. 

It  is  pretty  safe  to  conclude  that  the  girls  have  nibbled  at  the 
baits  that  procurers  flaunt  in  the  faces  of  their  proposed  victims. 
They  have  probably  been  taken  to  some  distant  city  upon  the 
pretext  of  receiving  some  lucrative  employment,  or  upon  the 
promise  of  marriage. 

Brothers  have  said:  "If  any  one  ruined  my  sister  I  would 
take  my  own  revenge. "  Eemember  brothers  that  every  girl  you 
help  to  push  along  the  downward  path  may  be  somebody's  sister. 

A  lawyer  once  said  in  a  Chicago  court  room  while  defending  a 
pandering  case:  "I  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  but  God 
didn't  see  fit  to  let  the  daughters  live.  Had  they  lived  and  a 

95 


96       WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

pander  had  procured  them  for  an  immoral  life,  this  right  hand 
would  have  dealt  out  justice. " 

Then  father,  do  not  forget  that  every  girl  sold  into  a  life  of 
vice  is  somebody's  daughter. 

Whose  daughter  art  thou  little  girl  in  a  den  of  vice! 

You  are  some  one's  daughter,  some  one  loves  you,  and  yet  the 
world  would  call  you  an  harlot. 

Bead  father  and  mother,  the  thirty-fourth  chapter  and  last 
verse  of  Genesis.  "  And  they  said,  Should  he  deal  with  our  sister 
as  with  an  harlot  I" 

No,  every  life  is  sacred.  Every  girl  in  the  mire  of  degradation 
is  worth  saving.  When  you  see  some  forlorn  creature  all  painted 
and  sad,  say  to  yourself,  "  Whose  daughter  art  thou.  Can  I  help 
her!" 

Among  the  girls  that  you  chance  to  see,  have  you  seen  this  girl 
whose  picture  is  shown  here.  Some  one  is  looking  for  her. 
Stories  of  girls  who  have  disappeared  will  give  an  insight  into 
the  many  avenues  these  girls  are  led. 

You  may  feel  that  this  does  not  concern  you ;  but  it  does,  and 
that  very  closely.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  person  to  look  out 
for  somebody  else's  daughter  and  guard  her  morals  as  zeal- 
ously as  possible.  You  may  not  feel  that  you  have  this  re- 
sponsibility, but  you  have.  If  you  allow  this  hideous  monster 
called  "  white  slavery "  to  thrive  and  grow  fat  you  cannot  tell  at 
what  moment  your  daughter  or  your  neighbor's  daughter  may 
be  its  next  victim.  You  will  know  how  easily  your  daughter 
may  be  entrapped  if  you  will  observe  how  shrewdly  and  quietly 
white  slavery  has  entrenched  its  slimy  self  in  our  social  life. 

Let  us  see  who  these  daughters  may  be  who  are  caught  in  the 
panders'  trap.  How  has  this  traffic  in  girls  all  come  about,  and 
where  do  these  girls  come  from?  How  do  these  slave  traders 
catch  their  victims? 

The  traffic  in  girls  is  local  and  foreign.  The  traffic  in  women 
slaves,  in  one  form  or  another  is  hundreds  of  years  old,  but  it 
has  remained  for  the  present  age  to  see  it  crystallized  into  a 
well  defined  commercialized  business.  This  business  has  been 


f 


"THE  EMPLOYMENT  PLAN." 

One  of  the  white  slave  trader's  methods  is  to  seek  the  girl  as  an  em- 
ployment agent  In-ill  upon  securing  help  for  some  large  -tore  or  hotel. 
He  is  pictured  tellini:  ihe  father  what  a  great  chance  tln-iv  is  tOr  the 
girl  in  the  city.  The  daughter  leaves  for  the  city,  her  doom  i-  scaled. 
-Chapter  VII. 


WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU?        97 

termed  in  this  country,  and  many  others,  for  lack  of  a  better 
name,  " white  slavery."  The  phrase,  white  slave  traffic,  is  a 
misnomer,  for  there  is  a  traffic  in  yellow  and  black  women  and 
girls,  as  well  as  in  white  girls.  However,  the  term  has  become 
so  widely  and  extensively  used  that  it  seems  futile  to  ever 
change  it. 

The  traffic  in  girls  simply  means  the  procuring  of  girls  for 
immoral  lives.  That  life  of  open  shame,  of  public  prostitution, 
is  so  naturally  abhorrent  to  nearly  every  girl  that  none  go  into 
it  except  in  one  of  two  ways;  either  they  gravitate  into  it,  or 
they  are  tricked  or  trapped  into  it.  A  kept  woman,  finally  cast 
aside  by  a  libertine,  or  a  woman,  unhappily  or  unfortunately 
married,  may  drift  into  it,  but  very  few  young,  unmarried  girls 
walk  into  a  house  of  shame,  and  say,  "Here  I  am,  I  want  to  be 
a  prostitute. ' '  Therefore,  the  number  of  girls  going  voluntarily 
into  this  life  is  far  too  small  to  meet  the  demand;  hence  the 
necessity  for  tricking  into  the  life  large  numbers  of  girls  who 
would  not  come  willingly.  A  resort-owner  in  the  vice  district  of 
Chicago,  admitted  under  oath  to  United  States  District  At- 
torney Sims,  that  it  had  cost  the  "  houses  "  of  the  vicinity  thirty 
thousand  dollars  in  one  year  to  hire  procurers  to  get  new  girls. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  WHITE  SLAVERY. 

Panders,  the  law  calls  these  creatures,  both  male  and  female, 
who  trade  in  human  flesh  to  fill  the  dens  of  shame.  These  pan- 
ders originated  in  Eastern  Europe.  The  immediate  cause  at 
that  time,  was  the  abject  poverty  of  the  people  in  certain 
European  countries  and  provinces. 

The  early  girl  slave  trade  was  carried  on  by  the  sale  of  girls 
from  Eastern  Europe  into  the  Orient  through  the  main  distrib- 
uting center,  Constantinople.  The  victims  of  this  traffic  were 
recruited  chiefly  from  the  Ghetto  of  Europe  in  the  old  kingdoms 
of  Poland,  now  a  part  of  Russia  and  Austria.  The  kaftan,  as 
the  procurer  was  then  called,  gathered  up  the  girls  in  Galicia 
and  Russian  Poland  and  sold  them  into  Asia. 

About  a  half  century  ago  the  girl  slave  trade  began  in  the 


98       WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

West.  This  was  the  beginning  of  white  slavery  as  we  know  it 
today.  The  condition  of  the  Jewish  people  in  Southwestern 
Russia,  Poland,  in  Galicia,  and  in  the  North  of  Austria  was  de- 
plorable. The  girl  slave  traffic  proper  began  first  in  Galicia. 
There,  the  Jewish  people  persecuted  and  oppressed,  had  fled 
for  protection  and  were  huddled  together.  The  lands  became 
greatly  over  crowded  and  the  people  became  destitute  and  poor. 
They  had  not  enough  work  to  provide  themselves  with  food  and 
clothing,  and  the  support  of  the  daughters,  who  could  not  earn 
money,  became  a  great  burden. 

People  who  have  travelled  through  Galicia  and  other  Euro- 
pean provinces  to  investigate  social  conditions  there,  tell  that  it 
is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  find  two  and  three,  and  even  four 
families  living  in  a  house  of  one  large  room,  the  quarters  of  each 
family  being  separated  by  a  chalk  line,  or  a  string  drawn  across 
the  clay  floor.  Housed  together  in  this  fashion,  men,  women  and 
children  often  sleeping  on  the  floor  are  brought  into  close  and 
sometimes  improper  relations.  This  horrible  condition  in  the 
home  naturally  breeds  immorality. 

Year  by  year  the  condition  had  grown  worse  until  word 
reached  these  poverty  stricken  people  of  the  need  of  laborers 
and  female  help  in  South  America.  Then  began  the  flow  which 
developed  into  the  steady  stream  of  immigration  of  girls  to 
South  America,  and  which  afforded  opportunity  to  the  kaftan 
to  turn  the  trade  in  women  to  the  West. 

The  business  of  procuring,  transporting  and  selling  girls  for 
immoral  purposes,  developed  to  an  enormous  extent.  With 
Lemberg  as  the  principal  recruiting  center,  many  cities  in  Rus- 
sian and  Austrian  Poland  were  infested  with  the  human  leaches 
who  made  it  their  business  to  ship  or  personally  conduct  girls  to 
the  South  American  continent.  It  is  reported  that  thousands 
were  sent  to  the  Argentine  Republic  alone. 

Many  of  these  girls  were  induced  to  go  upon  promises  of  mar- 
riage and  others  were  taken  there  upon  the  promises  of  securing 
work.  There  is  to  this  day  a  large  colony  of  these  procurers  in 
Buenos  Ayres.  However,  many  of  them  have  been  driven  out  by 


WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU?        99 

the  stringent  laws  recently  passed  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  as 
part  of  the  world  wide  crusade  that  is  being  made  against  these 
loathsome  wretches. 

For  some  reason  the  Russian  and  Galician  kaftan  steered 
clear  of  the  North  American  continent,  and  herded  their  victims 
for  the  slaughter  in  Argentina  and  other  South  American  coun- 
tries. 

FIRST  WHITE  SLAVES  FROM  FRANCE. 

It  was  the  procurers  in  France  who  first  developed  the  busi- 
ness of  exploiting  girls  to  supply  the  vice  resorts  of  North 
America.  About  the  time  the  Jewish  kaftan  discovered  the  op- 
portunities in  the  west  for  the  sale  of  slaves,  the  procurer, 
known  in  his  native  country  as  Maquereaux  (Mackerel)  had 
reached  the  zenith  of  his  prosperity  in  France  during  the  reign 
of  Louis  Napoleon  in  the  sixties.  So  well  developed  was  the  pro- 
curing business  in  France  that  the  maquereaux  adopted  a  cos- 
tume of  their  own,  consisting  of  black  velvet  trousers,  a  blouse, 
and  a  little  silk  cap,  which  was  called  the  bijou. 

With  the  advent  of  the  French  Republic  the  sentiment  of  the 
people  were  aroused  against  the  operations  of  the  maquereaux, 
and  they  were  driven  from  the  country.  Many  of  them  were 
exiled  to  the  Penal  Colonies  of  New  Caledonia  and  French 
Guiana.  Meeting  strong  opposition  they  began  to  seek  other 
fields  for  their  foul  business  and  travelled  far  and  wide  until 
today  they  may  be  found  over  the  entire  world.  Many  of  them 
began  trading  girls  in  London  and  New  York.  The  latter  place 
seemed  to  offer  them  the  greatest  advantages  and  the  best  re- 
turns for  their  efforts. 

The  French  girl  slave  soon  became  common,  not  only  in  New 
York,  but  also  in  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  other  American 
cities.  Until  the  last  few  years  the  French  girl  brought  a  high 
price  to  the  trader  who  sold  her,  and  in  consequence  some  of 
these  procurers  grew  very  rich.  In  many  of  the  larger  cities  of 
the  United  States  today  the  proprietors  of  the  larger  immoral 
houses  are  French  people. 


100  WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  "CADET." 

Following  closely  upon  the  heels  of  the  French  maquereaux 
in  New  York  City  came  the  cadet.  There  was  a  great  influx  of 
Austrian,  Russian  and  Hungarian  Jews  about  twenty-five 
years  ago  in  New  York  City.  Among  these  immigrants  were 
disreputable  men  and  boys  who  had  learned  the  art  of  procur- 
ing from  the  kaftan  of  Eastern  Europe,  and  they  soon  began 
to  develop  this  traffic  in  America.  The  crowded  condition  in 
the  East  side  of  New  York  gave  these  cadets  a  great  field  to 
work  upon.  Corrupt  politicians  in  New  York  City,  anxious  to 
control  the  districts  largely  populated  by  foreign  people, 
winked  at  the  development  of  the  sale  of  girls  by  the  cadets  and 
sometimes  even  aided  in  it. 

Before  the  maquereaux,  called  "  macks "  in  this  country,  and 
the  cadets  arrived  in  New  York,  the  immoral  houses  were  con- 
ducted by  women.  It  became  the  object  of  these  foreign  pro- 
curers to  displace  the  women  in  the  ownership  of  these  resorts, 
and  thus  they  began  to  secure  supplies  and  assume  the  man- 
agement of  the  houses.  Most  people  erroneously  believe  today 
that  the  disorderly  resorts  are  owned  mainly  by  women,  how- 
ever, the  fact  is  that  the  real  owners  are  men  in  most  instances, 
and  the  women  are  hired  merely  as  superintendents  or  mad- 
ams. The  women  are  often  only  ostensibly  the  owners. 

The  new  immigrant  girls  were  most  exposed  to  the  wiles  and 
schemes  of  the  procurers.  The  profitable  and  protected  busi- 
ness of  exploiting  girls  for  immoral  resorts  soon  attracted  hosts 
of  other  from  many  races.  American  bred  boys,  men  and  wom- 
en, ever  on  the  alert  for  making  money  soon  grasped  the  idea 
that  this  was  an  easy  way  of  acquiring  an  income.  In  recent 
years  the  Italians  and  Greeks  have  come  into  prominence  in 
the  pandering  business. 

For  years  the  domestic  servants  and  the  poor  working  girls 
have  been  most  sought  by  those  who  would  sell  them  body  and 
soul  into  slavery. 

During  the  year  of  the  World 's  Fair  in  Chicago  a  great 
many  women  of  loose  character  came  to  this  city.  Others 


WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU?        101 

were  brought  by  the  maquereaux,  cadets  and  pimps  from  New 
York  City.  The  French  and  the  Italian  procurers  took  up  their 
abode  on  the  North  and  South  sides  of  Chicago.  Up  to  that 
time,  those  interested  in  settlement  work  tell  us  that  it  was 
very  uncommon  to  find  a  Jewish  girl  in  an  immoral  resort  in 
the  City  of  Chicago.  At  the  present  time  the  Jewish  reform 
workers  state  that  about  fifty  per  cent  of  the  inmates  of  dis- 
orderly houses  on  the  West  side  of  Chicago  are  of  Jewish 
descent.  This  growth  in  comparatively  a  few  years  is  the  best 
illustration  of  the  dreadful  work  of  the  Jewish  cadet  and  pan- 
der, who  had  settled  on  the  West  side  of  Chicago.  Before  this 
traffic  was  exposed  in  Chicago  at  certain  hotels  and  resorts  on 
the  West  side  Jewish  girls  from  Europe  were  sold  in  almost 
open  market  to  the  highest  bidders  from  immoral  houses. 

WHITE  SLAVERY  REGARDED  AS  "BUSINESS." 

It  is  deplorable  that  among  some  of  these  people  of  the  East 
side  of  New  York  and  the  West  side  of  Chicago  the  business 
of  trading  women  is  not  considered  wrong,  but  is  regarded 
plainly  as  "  business. "  Even  the  men  who  are  well  known  as 
dealers  in  human  flesh  stand  high  among  their  own  people  in 
these  communities  and  some  have  held  positions  of  honor  and 
respect  in  their  religious  circles.  These  men  are  regarded  by 
many  of  their  own  people  as  honest  in  their  dealings  among 
each  other.  They  are  reputed  as  being  kind  and  generous  to 
their  families.  Their  idea  in  carrying  on  the  occupation  of 
buying  and  selling  girls  is  regarded  very  much  in  the  light  that  if 
they  do  not  engage  in  this  profitable  business  some  one  else  will. 

The  efforts  of  the  Jewish  cadets,  however,  has  been  confined 
mostly  to  the  West  side  of  Chicago,  and  it  is  there  that  they  have 
so  quickly  wrought  havoc  among  their  own  people. 

As  in  New  York  City  soon  the  ownership  of  disreputable 
houses  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  Jewish  and  Italian 
men  in  many  cities  of  America.  Self  preservation  prompted 
the  other  owners  who  saw  these  men  of  foreign  birth,  who  were 
growing  rich  all  around  them,  to  adopt  the  same  methods.  The 


102  WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

supply  in  young  girls  did  not  equal  the  demand.  Proprietors  of 
these  houses  began  sending  out  hangers-on  to  get  one  or  two 
immigrant  girls.  Then  it  was  found  so  easy  and  profitable  that 
they  began  to  hire  men  and  women  for  the  sole  purpose  of  se- 
curing fresh  supplies. 

The  foreign  owners  continued  to  import  girls  from  various 
countries,  not  only  to  be  kept  in  their  own  resorts,  but  also  to 
be  sold  and  distributed  into  the  resorts  owned  by  Americans, 
and  thus  the  nefarious  business  we  know  today  developed  and 
grew  to  vast  proportions. 

These  procurers,  now  named  panders,  travelled  to  the  West 
as  far  as  the  Pacific  coast,  to  the  North  and  to  the  South  until 
now  the  whole  country  is  covered  with  a  net  work  as  finely  woven 
as  any  business  in  the  world.  While  Lemberg  and  Paris  are  the 
chief  distributing  centers  for  this  business  in  Europe,  New 
York,  Chicago  and  San  Francisco  have  become  the  main  distrib- 
uting points  in  America.  However,  these  are  not  the  only  cities 
where  girl  slaves  are  bought  and  sold,  but  nearly  all  the  other 
large  American  cities  including  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg, 
New  Orleans,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Denver  and  Seattle  have 
become  trading  centers  for  the  girl  slave  agents. 

No  one  race  or  creed  predominates  in  this  awful  business. 
Probably  never  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people  has  so  foul 
a  stain  upon  its  fair  name  been  disclosed  as  when  came  the  rev- 
elation of  the  part  that  Jewish  men  and  women  have  been  play- 
ing in  this  terrible  slave  traffic.  Yet,  the  good  people  of  this 
race  and  creed  have  risen  to  the  occasion  and  have  started  to 
wage  unrelenting  war  against  vice  in  any  and  every  form,  in 
their  own  ranks,  and  in  the  world  at  large. 

It  should  be  clearly  understood  that  girl  slavery  is  not  a 
Jewish  problem  alone,  neither  is  it  a  French  nor  an  Italian 
problem.  It  is  a  problem  for  every  good  citizen  in  every  coun- 
try to  solve.  Jews  and  Gentiles  alike  have  contributed  to  the 
great  army  of  panders  which  now  floods  the  entire  earth. 

As  is  sometimes  supposed,  there  is  not  one  great  syndicate 
owning  and  operating  this  business.  It  is  conducted  by  sepa- 


WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU?        103 

rate  groups  who  have  adopted  the  same  or  similar  methods, 
many  of  them  having  either  direct  or  indirect  relations  and 
understandings  with  each  other.  Not  only  has  the  immigrant 

AMERICAN  GIRLS  FOR  FOREIGN  MARKETS. 

girl  in  America  been  exploited  in  this  foreign  traffic,  but  Amer- 
ican girls  have  been  procured  for  the  foreign  markets.  Girls 
from  many  North  American  cities  were  sent  in  the  middle  of 
the  nineties  to  South  America,  and  to  Asia. 

The  camps  of  the  miners  and  the  armies  have  often  attracted 
the  panders.  It  is  known  that  traffickers  took  girls  to  South 
Africa  where  many  mining  camps  were  located,  and  often  came 
back  with  small  fortunes.  They  procured  American  girls  for 
the  mining  camps  of  Alaska,  and  sent  many  of  their  victims  to 
the  Panama  canal. 

In  1901  and  1902  the  disclosures  brought  about  by  the  in- 
vestigation made  by  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  in  New  York 
City,  caused  the  panders  in  that  city  to  be  exiled  and  they  were 
sent  scurrying  over  the  country  to  other  American  cities  and 
to  the  camps  of  laborers  in  the  lumber  and  mining  regions  of 
North  America. 

Up  to  this  time  thousands  of  foreign  girls  had  been  shipped 
into  this  country,  and  yet  the  proportion  of  foreign  girls  who 
were  being  procured  by  panders  had  been  gradually  growing 
much  less  than  that  of  the  girls  of  our  own  country.  In  the 
United  States  today  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  slave  victims 
are  being  enveigled  from  our  own  farms,  towns  and  cities.  Thus 
this  traffic  in  girls  which  originated  in  Europe  has  assumed 
alarming  proportions  in  America. 

METHODS  EMPLOYED  BY  PANDERS. 

The  methods  the  panders  employ  in  America  in  procuring 
girls  are  many.  Poor  Mildred  was  lured  away  by  the  promise 
of  marriage,  and  the  enchantment  of  a  romantic  elopement. 
Unfortunate  Fannie  was  seeking  to  better  her  condition  with 
the  hope  of  better  and  more  profitable  employment.  Deluded 


104  WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

Mabel,  first  the. victim  of  lust  andjpassion,  then  the  victim  of  a 
libertine,  and  at  last  was  the  victim  of  a  slave  trader  by  force 
and  the  use  of  chloroform. 

These  beasts  of  prey  prowl  everywhere  and  under  many 
guises.  Engaged  in  the  traffic  in  girls  are  women  and  men  as 
has  been  seen.  Women  panders  are  often  creatures  of  superior 
culture  and  intelligence,  who  carry  on  their  wretched  business 
with  cunning  and  dispatch.  Even  a  former  school  teacher, 
Dora  Douglas,  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  prison  in  Chi- 
cago in  December  of  1908,  for  procuring  girls  from  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin. 

Transactions  which  involve  outrages  such  as  cannot  be  sur- 
passed in  the  worst  annals  of  Turkish  misrule  these  women  pro- 
curers often  will  perform  without  the  quiver  of  a  lip,  or  the 
droop  of  an  eyelash.  Eichly  attired,  of  fascinating  manner, 
sometimes  possessing  remnants  of  former  beauty,  and  withal 
keen  as  razors,  and  sharp  as  steel  traps,  these  women  are  the 
most  dangerous  creatures  extant  in  the  civilized  world. 

"THE  LADY  PANDER"  AND  HER  TRAPS. 

These  women  procure  girls  in  such  ways  as  these:  A  nice 
looking  woman,  perhaps,  middle  aged  and  " motherly''  in  man- 
ner is  buying  ribbon  from  a  pretty,  tired-looking  girl  behind  a 
counter.  The  customer  observes  the  heat  of  the  day,  the  crowd 
in  the  store,  the  fatigue  of  standing  for  long  hours.  If  the  girl 
answers  in  a  tone  of  self-pity,  the  shopper  goes  on:  "One 
ought  to  get  good  pay  for  such  hard  work.  Oh,  you  say  the 
pay  is  not  good?  What  a  shame."  Then  she  tells  of  a  place  she 
knows  where  a  girl  is  wanted  at  excellent  wages.  Perhaps  she 
suggests  that  in  a  great  rich  city,  it  is  a  pity  there  are  so  few 
who  care  how  a  working  girl  gets  on.  Perhaps  she  says:  "It 
never  occurred  to  me  before,  but  I  have  a  lovely  bedroom  that 
I  never  use.  You  would  be  welcome  to  it,  without  pay — just 
so  I  might  feel  I  was  helping  one  girl  along."  The  girl  often 
living  alone  in  a  large  city  jumps  at  the  golden  opportunity 
to  better  her  social  condition.  The  new  found  "friend  and 


WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU?        105 

philanthropist "  is  a  God  send  the  girl  thinks,  and  that  very 
night  the  girl  may  go,  not  knowing  where  she  is  going,  with 
this  woman  to  a  large  fine  looking  house,  or  a  magnificent 
apartment,  only  to  find  too  late  that  it  is  a  palace  of  shame. 

Again  the  woman  pretends  to  come  from  a  small  town,  she 
is  a  shopper,  and  finds,  "city  folks  so  hard  to  get  acquainted 
with."  This  method  is  used  especially  if  the  girl  has  let  fall 
that  she  is  from  a  small  town.  Wouldn't  it  be  nice  if  they  two 
could  go  somewhere  together  and  have  a  pleasant  evening! 
"A  woman  can't  go  any  place  alone,  it  seems."  Or  she  has  a 
young  gentleman  son  and  it  is  her  dread  that  he  will  "get  taken 
with  some  of  these  idle  city  girls.  I  want  him  to  marry  a  fine 
working  girl  who  will  make  him  a  good,  sensible  wife.  Dear 
me,  I  wish  he  knew  a  girl  like  you. ' ' 

Then  again,  the  woman,  fine  looking  and  handsomely  gowned, 
discovers  that  the  girl  in  the  shop  is  interested  in  music,  and 
pretending  to  be  attracted  by  her  beauty,  as  did  Alice  Alva,  a 
resort  agent  in  Chicago,  she  invites  the  girl  to  her  home  to  hear 
and  study  music. 

Yet  still  other  women  make  it  a  business  to  get  acquainted 
with  factory  girls,  often  foreign  girls  practically  alone  in  a 
strange  country.  The  woman  speaks  the  girl's  mother  tongue 
and  promises  better  employment  some  place,  and  thus  entices 
the  girl  to  her  ruin.  Such  a  woman  was  Emma  Mosel,  alias 
Marie  Smith,  also  of  Chicago. 

Is  any  girl  greatly  to  be  wondered  at  if  she  does  not  see  the 
trap  concealed  by  these  tempting  suggestions?  They  sound 
like  mere  human  kindliness  to  her ;  no  one  has  ever  warned  her 
that  thus  the  devils  come.  And  so  she  goes — to  her  doom. 

Sometimes  the  "kind"  matronly  person  sits  about  waiting 
rooms  of  stores  and  interests  herself  in  girls  scanning  the  want- 
ads  of  the  daily  papers.  Sometimes  she  is  at  a  railway  station, 
however,  that  happens  now  less  frequently  than  formerly  be- 
cause of  the  watchfulness  of  representatives  of  the  Traveller's 
Aid  Society,  to  "spot"  newcomers  ignorant  of  where  to  go. 
Often  she  is  on  trains  coming  into  cities,  and  offers  girls  work 


106  WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

or  hospitality.  Not  infrequently  she  is  at  a  summer  resort  or 
winter  resort,  and  induces  a  girl  to  go  back  with  her  as  maid 
or  companion.  Or  she  advertises  for  a  "companion,"  (that 
easy  job  so  many  silly  girls  are  looking  for!),  and  receives 
applicants  in  a  hotel  or  other  place  not  under  suspicion.  She 
has  a  thousand  wiles,  but  one  end.  She  may  be  a  "Madam" 
procuring  for  her  own  resort;  or  she  may  be  a  mere  agent, 
getting  a  stipulated  price  for  every  girl  she  "lands." 

HOW  GIRLS  ARE  LURED  TO  DESTRUCTION. 

The  ways  of  the  male  panders  are  quite  as  various  and  more 
numerous.  He  is  usually  a  skilled  hunter,  and  he  studies  his 
game  so  that  he  may  know  just  how  to  bring  her  down.  He 
works  along  the  lines  of  the  least  resistance.  The  human  wants 
and  frailities,  the  liableness  to  be  deceived  or  seduced  are  mat- 
ters of  business  to  him.  The  wayward  girl  he  procures  quite 
easily,  while  the  procuring  of  the  good,  innocent  girl  but  adds 
keen  enjoyment  and  sport  to  his  hunt.  Everywhere  girls  may 
be  easily  approached  he  hunts  them,  it  may  be  at  a  county  fair, 
a  street  carnival,  at  the  public  dance,  on  excursion  boats,  in 
summer  parks,  nickle  theatres,  waiting  rooms,  in  stores,  and  in 
ice  cream  parlors.  He  stops  at  nothing,  evjen_at_church ;  and 
has  been  known  hundreds  of  times  to  court  his  quarry  after 
prayer-meeting,  marry  her  with  much  village  pomp,  and  sell 
her  into  a  den  of  infamy  during  her  "honeymoon."  He  does 
not  marry  her  if  he  can  otherwise  accomplish  his  purpose,  but 
he  does  not  hesitate  to  marry  if  that  seems  the  easiest  way. 
If  he  finds  a  girl  is  * l  stage-struck, ' '  he  tells  her  he  is  the  agent 
of  an  influential  manager,  and  gets  her  that  way;  she  goes  to 
see  "the  manager,"  and  never  comes  back.  If  she  is  obviously 
romantic,  he  turns  her  poor  little  head  with  his  passionate 
avowals  of  "love  at  first  sight,"  and  tells  her  stories  of  his 
father's  wealth,  his  mother's  social  splendors,  and  his  fine 
home;  or  his  parents  want  him  to  marry  "one  of  those  awful 
society  girls — nothing  to  'em.  I  never  liked  'em,  but  the  min- 
ute I  saw  you,  I  knew  I  never  could  do  what  they  want  me  to. 


WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU?        107 

It  was  love  from  the  word  'Go*  with  you,  kid."  Or,  if  she  is 
pathetically  shabby  and  underfed — a  poor  little  "hall  room" 
girl,  starving  for  a  bit  of  pleasure,  a  good  meal  now  and  then 
where  the  lights  are  bright  and  the  crowds  are  gay — he  takes 
the  tenderly  benevolent  attitude:  "It's  a  darn  shame  the  way 
some  fellows  spend  their  money  on  girls  who  have  too  much 
anyway.  Them  girls  don't  thank  you  for  it.  You  send  'em  ten 
dollars  worth  of  roses,  and  they'll  hardly  mention  that  they 
got  'em.  I'd  rather  share  my  money  with  a  little  Pal  that 
works  hard  and  don't  get  much.  There's  heaps  more  satis- 
faction in  it."  And  so  on.  It  all  leads  to  the  same  end,  the 
brothel  and  the  potter's  field. 

The  first  step  in  the  procuring  of  the  girl,  the  gaining  of  her 
confidence,  being  passed,  the  next  step  is  to  sell  her.  This  is 
accomplished  by  taking  her  out  to  see  a  friend,  sometimes  they 
are  looking  for  a  nice  room  or  hotel  for  her,  or  for  rooms  for 
both  of  them  after  they  shall  have  been  married. 

If  the  unwary  girl  has  been  caught  by  the  "stage  struck 
method"  she  is  taken  to  see  the  "manager,"  or  to  a  place  to  try 
on  theatrical  costumes.  There  are  cases  where  the  girl  has 
been  thus  induced  to  put  on  short,  gaudy  dresses,  thinking 
these  were  stage  costumes,  when  in  fact  they  were  "house 
dresses,"  and  by  this  means  her  street  clothes  are  easily  hid- 
den and  locked  up.  Again  should  the  pander  pretend  to  be  an 
employment  agent  he  is  merely  taking  her  to  the  place  where 
she  is  to  find  work.  Sometimes  he  specifies  no  more  than  that 
he  will  take  her  some  place  where  they  can  have  a  good  time. 
If  she  proves  to  be  balky  and  shows  any  reluctance,  she  is 
drugged,  or  made  intoxicated.  Yes,  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  in  cer- 
tain cafes  a  wink  to  the  waiter  will  bring  a  doped  drink  to  a 
girl  victim. 

So  in  the  busy,  grinding  whirl  and  rush  of  this  great  busy 
world,  is  it  not  well  to  pause  and  ask  whose  daughter  art  thou? 
Where,  little  girl  have  you  come  from?  Are  you  a  daughter 
of  some  distant  and  foreign  land  lured  here  by  the  promise  of 


108  WHOSE  DAUGHTER  ART  THOU? 

gold  or  are  you  a  daughter  of  our  own  country,  the  land  of  the 
free  and  the  home  of  the  brave? 

Every  one  of  these  poor,  dejected  and  degraded  girls  is 
somebody's  daughter.  Do  not  pity  her,  but  sympathize  and 
help  her.  She  is  worth  it  for  every  soul  that  is  saved  brings 
great  rejoicing  in  heaven:  "He  also  will  hear  their  cry,  and  will 
save  them." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HOW  PANDERS  WORK  BETWEEN  CITIES. 

How  girls  are  lost— The  pitiful  Story  of  Anna  C— A  trade  in  human  flesh- 
Saved  from  a  life  of  shame — Breaking  up  the  traffic  between  Chicago  and 
St.  Louis — Nine  of  the  brutes  fined  and  imprisoned — How  they  work. 

We  have  just  read  how  thousands  of  girls  mysteriously  disap- 
pear, and  one  would  naturally  ask,  where  do  they  go?  The 
answer  is  the  city  girls  are  taken  to  other  cities,  and  the  country 
girls  are  taken  to  towns  and  cities.  First  let  us  see  how  the 
panders  work  between  cities. 

In  the  summer  of  1910  in  the  City  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  a 

young  girl,  Anna  C ,  by  name,  was  brought  into  the  court 

room  where  Judge  Nash  presided.  She  told  a  pitiful  story.  She 
said  that  her  home  was  in  New  York  City  where  she  lived  with 
her  parents.  One  night  at  a  dance  she  met  Charles  Pearlstein,  a 
man  about  thirty  years  old.  After  a  short  acquaintance  he  told 
Anna  that  he  had  fallen  in  love  with  her  and  upon  the  pretense 
that  he  intended  to  marry  her,  Pearlstein  induced  the  girl  to  go 
with  him  to  Buffalo.  There  the  girl  was  led  to  believe  that  her 
pretended  lover  had  a  fine  position  awaiting  him.  Upon  arriv- 
ing in  Buffalo  she  testified  that  Pearlstein  had  forced  her  to  live 
an  immoral  life  in  a  house  of  shame  on  Vine  street.  There  she 
was  in  a  strange  city  five  hundred  miles  from  home.  With  no 
money  to  get  back  home  with  and  unacquainted  with  the  ways  of 
the  world  what  was  this  girl  going  to  do  but  stay  there.  The 
keeper  of  the  resort  turned  over  all  her  earnings  to  Pearlstein. 
During  the  ten  days  she  was  an  inmate  of  the  disreputable  house 
where  she  was  forced  to  stay,  her  procurer  collected  seventy  dol- 
lars as  his  wages  for  her  procurement,  and  all  of  this  money  was 
taken  from  the  money  received  by  this  poor  little  girl. 

109 


110    .  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

On  August  the  twenty-fourth,  Pearlstein  was  found  guilty 
upon  the  technical  charge  of  vagrancy,  and  sentenced  to  the  peni- 
tentiary for  six  months. 

As  the  trader  in  human  flesh  was  being  taken  from  the  court 
to  the  penitentiary  Judge  Nash  ordered  him  to  give  up  the 
seventy  dollars,  and  turn  it  over  to  the  girl.  Pearlstein  screamed 
that  he  was  a  poor  man  and  had  not  a  cent.  However,  a  search 
of  his  clothing  disclosed  a  roll  of  bills  containing  one  hundred 
and  forty  dollars.  Pearlstein  reluctantly  handed  over  the  money 
to  Anna. 

What  became  of  Anna?  Well  she  was  sent  to  the  detention 
home  temporarily  and  one  of  the  Hebrew  charities  in  New  York 
City  was  notified  to  send  for  her  that  she  might  be  returned  to 
her  family. 

While  the  above  case  shows  how  panders  take  girls  from  one 
city  to  another  by  pretended  love  and  false  promises  of  mar- 
riage, yet  the  most  striking  illustration  of  the  way  panders 
work  between  cities  was  brought  to  light  when  the  Chicago-St. 
Louis  gang  were  unearthed  and  annihilated.  The  history  of 
this  most  important  case  is  as  follows : 

In  Luxembourg,  Germany,  on  the  fourth  day  of  August  in 
the  year  1881,  was  born  a  girl  who  years  afterward  was  destined 
to  play  an  important  part  in  the  great  white  slave  drama.  She 
lived  with  her  parents  and  attended  school  at  the  place  of  her 
birth  until  she  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  Then  she  was  im- 
bued with  a  desire  to  go  to  America,  so  in  the  year  1900  she  went 
to  New  York  City,  where  she  was  later  employed  as  a  dress- 
maker. She  worked  at  dressmaking  for  about  three  and  a  half 
years  in  the  employ  of  a  Mrs.  Barnable  on  Fifteenth  Street  be- 
tween Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues.  Afterwards  she  ran  a 
boarding  house  on  West  50th  Street  in  New  York.  Her  biog- 
raphy does  not  record  exactly  what  she  did  after  that  except 
that  at  least  part  of  the  time  she  worked  in  various  places  in 
New  York  as  a  dress-maker.  We  do  know,  however,  that  she 
moved  to  Chicago  in  December,  1907,  and  two  months  later,  in 
February  of  1908,  she  was  married  to  Maurice  Van  Bever  of 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  111 

whom  we  have  learned  so  much  from  the  confession  of  William 
Simes. 

Of  the  intermediate  history  of  this  woman,  who  is  now  Julia 
Van  Bever,  little  is  known.  From  the  boarding  house  and  oc- 
cupation of  a  dressmaker,  she  mysteriously  disappears.  Per- 
haps Van  Bever  had  procurers  at  work  in  New  York,  and  per- 
haps Julia  was  one  of  the  victims  cast  into  the  seething  caldron 
of  vice;  at  any  rate  she  emerges  a  social  nemesis,  visiting  the 
sins  of  society  upon  its  guilty  head.  Perhaps  for  an  interval 
she  was  the  star  attraction  of  Van  Bever 's  house  of  shame,  who 
could  not  be  kept  as  a  mere  inmate.  Her  extreme  beauty,  gra- 
cious manners,  great  popularity  and  ungovernable  temper 
made  her  impossible  to  control.  She  was  soon  at  the  head  of 
Van  Bever  ?s  establishments  in  Chicago,  where  as  "  Madam  and 
Landlady,"  she  ruled  both  her  patrons  and  her  subordinates 
with  a  rod  of  iron.  She  presided  over  these  dens  of  vice,  where 
gentlemen  were  entertained,  and  for  which  young  girls  were 
procured  by  all  means  that  were  possible. 

These  women,  both  the  Madam  and  the  procuress,  are  indeed 
a  psychological  puzzle.  How  a  woman  like  Julia  Van  Bever 
can  retain  so  much  that  is  womanly  in  appearance,  and  so  lit- 
tle that  is  womanly  in  nature  is  a  mystery.  They  certainly 
typify  the  "  harpies "  of  olden  days  for  their  fingers  drip  with 
blood  and  they  tread  upon  broken  hearts. 

VAN  BEVER— THE  SLAVE  TRADER. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  in  Chapter  V  William  Simes  told  that 
Van  Bever  owned  a  resort  known  as  the  "  White  City,"  and  lat- 
er bought  the  adjoining  place  on  the  west  and  facing  Armour 
Avenue  called  the  " Paris."  This  man,  Maurice  Van  Bever, 
buyer  and  owner  of  girl  slaves  very  discreetly  kept  in  the  back 
ground.  To  the  world  outside  he  merely  was  a  saloon  keeper 
in  the  red  light  district.  Poor  misguided,  deluded  Madam  Julia 
was  pushed  to  the  front  as  the  landlady  and  mistress  of  the  re- 
sorts. Lurking  behind  Madam  Julia  was  the  tall  form  of  Van 
Bever  with  his  forefinger  ever  pointing  the  way  she  must  go, 


112  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

directing  her  movements  with  the  cunning  of  a  fox  and  ferocity 
of  a  wolf.  His  ingenuity  developed  the  most  gigantic  slave 
business  that  has  yet  been  unearthed,  with  a  system  equal  to  al- 
most any  business  concern  in  America.  Around  him  he  gather- 
ed a  pack  of  wolves  in  the  shape  of  panders  who  were  ever 
ready  to  roam  the  country  in  search  of  new  victims  to  be 
gnashed  and  bitten  by  the  whole  lot.  The  operations  of  Van 
Bever  and  his  crowd  were  finally  discovered  by  detectives 
working  under  the  direction  of  the  writer,  and  let  it  be  said 
here  that  these  detectives  as  smooth  and  daring  as  any  in 
America  live  a  life  of  self-sacrifice,  never  known  to  the  police, 
never  appearing  in  court  ,and  never  receiving  praise  in  news- 
papers. It  was  learned  that  a  stream  of  girls  were  being 
brought  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago  by  the  procurers  mainly 
upon  the  pretext  of  receiving  more  inviting  employment  and 
higher  wages.  These  girls  were  taken  from  restaurants,  stores 
and  private  homes  where  they  were  working  as  servants,  and 
promised  finer  and  better  positions  in  Chicago.  The  informa- 
tion was  ascertained  also  that  Van  Bever  had  devised  a  code 
for  letters  and  telegrams  to  warn  the  panders  of  danger,  and 
also  for  the  purpose  of  writing  or  telegraphing  secret  instruc- 
tions. 

TRAPPED  BY  A  LETTER. 

A  letter  written  by  Mollie  Hart,  a  procuress,  to  Mike  Hart, 
a  pander  then  in  St.  Louis,  fell  into  the  hands  of  secret  detec- 
tives. It  said  that  two  city  policemen  "had  told  Van  Bever 
that  a  certain  party  told  them  that  you  went  after  some  girls, 
and  these  was  watching  for  you  when  you  return.  So  if  you 
get  any  girls  coming  up  here  you  had  better  leave  and  send 
them  a  few  days  later,  or  either  get  off  at  Hinsdale,  and  put 
them  in  a  hotel  for  a  few  days,  or  else  don't  bother  with  the 
girls.  Everything  will  be  all  right  if  you  come  back;  the  way 
I  told  you  is  what  we  mean  everything  is  0.  K.  next  week. 
Burn  every  letter  and  telegram  you  receive  from  here.  Leave 

the  girls  behind  with .    The  girls  will  have  to  wait  a  few 

days,  but  you  come  back  at  once  alone." 


William  Simes 
Mentioned   in   Chapter  V. 


Harry   Frank 

"Frank,  you  are  an  inhuman 
wretch.  I'll  give  you  the  limit 
of  the  law."  $1,000  fine  and  one 
year  in  prison. — Chapter  XII. 


Frank  Arnell 
$300  fine  and  6  months  in  prison 

BRUTAL  WHITE  SLAVE  TRADERS  SENT  TO  PRISON  BY  THE  AUTHOR 


Clarence  Gentry 
The  brute  referred  to  in  Chap.  I 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  113 

Mike,  not  suspecting  trouble,  walked  into  the  trap  the  de- 
tectives set  for  him.  This  was  in  October,  1909.  The  girl  he 
induced  to  come  to  Chicago  upon  the  occasion  of  his  downfall 
was  a  girl  named  Sarah.  Mollie  Hart  and  Mike  Hart  were 
arrested  and  Sarah  was  sent  to  the  Florence  Crittenton  Home 
for  protection.  When  Mollie  and  Mike  were  arrested  the  word 

CONSTERNATION  IN  THE  VICE  DISTRICT. 

spread  through  the  underworld  of  Chicago  like  wild  fire.  Van 
Bever  disappeared  at  once,  and  conflicting  reports  were  given 
out  as  to  his  whereabouts.  A  certain  Frenchman  in  Chicago 
suddenly  became  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  crusade 
against  panders,  and  volunteered  advice  and  information 
which,  of  course,  was  purposely  misleading.  However,  no  cred- 
ence was  placed  in  him,  although  he  was  made  to  think  he  was 
believed.  One  report  had  it  that  Van  Bever  had  fled  to  France, 
and  another  that  he  had  gone  to  Seattle. 

The  "Kid,"  a  detective,  and  the  best  of  them  all,  located 
Van  Bever  in  a  certain  hotel  in  Chicago.  One  night  he  thought 
he  had  him  and  called  two  city  policemen  on  the  telephone,  but 
by  the  time  they  arrived  Van  Bever  had  eluded  them.  The 
chase  after  this  slave  trader  was  exciting  and  interesting.  He 
would  start  out  in  one  closed  carriage,  and  suddenly  jump  in- 
to another,  going  in  the  opposite  direction,  in  which  would  be  a 
member  of  his  gang.  To  follow  him  the  detectives  had  to  press 
express  wagons  and  other  vehicles  into  his  service.  Finally  one 
day  the  writer  received  a  telephone  message  to  come  imme- 
diately to  a  certain  office  building.  Arriving  there  he  saw  a 

VAN  BEVER,  A  PRISONER. 

closed  carriage  with  its  coachman  standing  in  front,  and  in  the 
shadow  of  the  building  was  the  faithful  "Kid."  At  length  Van 
Bever  emerged  from  the  crowded  building  with  his  wife,  Julia. 
When  Madam  Van  Bever  was  seated  in  the  conveyance,  and 
Maurice  was  about  to  enter  the  writer  stepped  up  and  touched 
him  on  the  shoulder,  and  said:  "Your  name  is  Van  Bever!" 


114  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

The  man  so  bold  as  a  slave  owner  turned  deathly  white.  There 
seemed  to  be  not  a  drop  of  blood  left  in  him.  He  stammered 
for  a  moment,  and  then  nodded.  By  that  time  a  street-cross- 
ing policeman  who  had  been  advised  of  what  was  going  on  came 
up,  and  the  arrest  of  the  Van  Bevers  was  made. 

BREAKING  UP  THE  CHICAGO-ST.  LOUIS  GANG. 

Within  a  few  days  the  whole  gang  was  rounded  up  excepting 
Paul  Auer,  alias  Du  Bois,  Van  Bever 's  handy  man  in  crime, 
Dick  Tyler,  another  member  of  the  gang,  and  his  woman  Julia 
Tyler,  who  escaped  and  ran  away  and  were  never  caught. 

Mollie  Hart  was  convicted,  October  11,  1909;  Mike  Hart  re- 
ceived his  sentence  October  30,  1909.  Albert  Hopper,  also  en- 
gaged in  bringing  girls  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago  was  found 
guilty  the  same  month. 

David  Garfinkle  of  St.  Louis  was  brought  to  Chicago,  tried 
and  convicted  November  18,  1909.  He  was  the  St.  Louis  agent 
where  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  gang  made  their  headquarters 
when  at  that  end  of  the  line.  The  venue  was  laid  in  Chicago, 
Cook  County,  Illinois,  because  it  was  proved  that  Garfinkle 
came  to  Chicago  and  received  money  for  his  part  in  the  busi- 
ness. 

Joe  Bovo,  also  of  St.  Louis,  was  convicted  December  24,  1909, 
and  got  the  light  sentence  of  six  months  in  the  House  of  Cor- 
rection, and  a  fine  of  Three  Hundred  Dollars  as  a  Christmas 
present.  In  these  cases  Illinois  had  to  go  to  Missouri  and  "show 
them.11 

The  Van  Bevers  were  both  tried  in  November,  1909.  Julia 
Van  Bever  was  found  guilty  on  November  27th,  of  that  year, 
and  her  husband  Maurice  was  tried  the  week  previous. 

As  the  trial  of  Maurice  Van  Bever  was  one  of  the  hardest 
fought,  and  most  important,  let  us  go  to  the  court  room  where 
that  skilled  and  able  Judge,  Honorable  Edwin  K.  Walker,  was 
presiding,  and  gather  from  the  witnesses  themselves  the  testi- 
mony in  the  case. 

Mollie  Hart  was  the  first  witness  called  by  the  prosecution  to 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  115 

present  evidence  against  Maurice  Van  Bever.  In  answer  to  the 
prosecutor *s  questions  she  told  her  story  in  this  way : 

"My  name  is  Mollie  Hart.  At  the  present  time  I  am  living 
at  the  House  of  Correction.  I  know  the  defendant  in  this  case, 
Maurice  Van  Bever.  I  first  met  him  around  the  Seventh  or 
Eighth  of  April,  1909.  Before  that  time  my  home  was  in  St. 
Louis.  The  latter  part  of  June  I  went  back  to  St.  Louis  on  a 
short  trip.  Before  I  went  I  had  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Van 
Bever,  and  in  that  conversation  he  just  told  me  to  try  to  bring 
some  of  my  girl  friends  back  with  me. 

The  first  place  I  met  Mr.  Van  Bever  was  at  number  - 
Armour  Avenue.  I  stayed  at  that  place  until  May,  then  I  went 
to  St.  Louis.  I  came  to  this  place  again  and  went  back  again 
to  St.  Louis.  This  time  I  came  back  from  St.  Louis  around  the 
Fourteenth  or  Fifteenth  of  July,  and  then  I  went  back  to  this 
place.  I  stayed  there  until  the  night  before  we  were  arrested. 
We  left  there  in  the  morning  of  October  Seventh.  As  to  what 
I  was  doing  there,  -  -  I  was  supposed  to  be  ' '  sporting. ' ' 

When  I  came  there  in  April  they  took  me  down  to  the  dining 
room,  and  spoke  to  us  girls,  and  told  us  what  to  tell  the  police 
officers  when  they  came,  that  is,  Mrs.  Van  Bever  spoke  and  told 
us  to  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Van  Bever.  They  told  us  to  tell 
that  we  were  in  a  bad  place,  had  been  in  a  place  like  that  before, 
and  when  they  asked  our  age — I  said  nineteen,  and  they  said  I 
had  better  say  twenty  years.  They  did  not  say  anything  else 
at  that  time.  We  ate  our  supper  then,  and  they  took  us  up- 
stairs. There  were  other  girls  there  at  supper,  about  three  or 
four. 

Later  at  the  time  Van  Bever  told  me  to  try  to  bring  some  of 
my  girl  friends  back  with  me  from  St.  Louis,  he  said  if  I  brought 
the  girls  he  would  give  me  Fifty  Dollars. 

When  I  went  down  to  St.  Louis  I  saw  one  girl,  Sarah . 

That  was  around  the  first  of  July.  I  came  back  from  St.  Louis 
by  myself,  and  saw  Mr.  Van  Bever  at  that  time.  He  asked  me 
where  my  friend  was.  I  told  him — well,  I  told  a  lie  to  him. 
I  told  him  I  saw  her  the  night  before,  and  gave  her  a  ticket,  but  I 


116  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

didn't.  And  later  on  he  said  'I  wish  you  would  get  the  ticket 
back. '  So  he  could  get  the  money  back  on  the  ticket  if  she  didn't 
come  up  here.  He  asked  me  several  times  why  she  didn't  come. 
I  told  him  I  didn't  know.  I  didn't  go  to  St.  Louis  again  after 
that. 

Yes,  I  do  know  Mike  Hart.  After  I  came  back  from  St.  Louis 
in  the  middle  of  July,  I  remained  at  number Armour  Ave- 
nue, and  Mike  Hart  worked  there  at  that  time  as  a  bar  tender. 
Mr.  Van  Bever  did  not  say  anything  in  my  presence  to  Mike 
about  going  to  St.  Louis  after  I  came  back  in  July. 

This  letter  here  is  in  my  handwriting.  Mr.  Van  Bever  was 
present  when  I  wrote  it.  He  told  me  then  in  reference  to  this 
letter  that  the  police  had  found  out  that  he  was  sending  to  St. 
Louis  for  girls,  and  to  tell  Mike  to  come  back  at  once,  and  come 
back  alone,  and  if  he  had  any  girls  to  leave  them  there,  and  leave 
somebody  else  send  them  on  later. 

(The  letter  was  here  submitted  in  evidence.) 

Also  this  telegram,  dated  September  Fourth,  1909,  Mr.  Van 
Bever  told  me  to  send.  At  that  time  he  told  me  to  send  a  tele- 
gram to  St.  Louis  for  my  husband,  Mike  Hart,  to  come  back  at 
once  on  the  first  train.  Mr.  Van  Bever  also  said  something  else 
to  tell  Mike.  He  said  to  tell  him  to  come  back  because  the  police 
knew  all  about  his  going  away  after  girls,  that  was  why. 

I  gave  the  telegram  to  a  little  messenger  boy  who  was  there. 
Mr.  Van  Bever  was  standing  right  there. 

Mike  did  come  back.  After  he  got  back  I  wrote  a  letter  to 

Sarah .  Mr.  Van  Bever  told  me  what  to  write  to  her  in 

this  last  letter.  He  told  me  to  write  to  tell  her  to  go  to  the  Union 
Station,  and  call  for  a  ticket  for  Sarah  over  the  Wabash  line,  and 
I  wrote  it.  That  was  in  September  of  this  year,  1909.  Mr.  Van 
Bever  said  he  would  send  the  ticket.  I  showed  the  letter  to  Mr. 
Van  Bever  and  he  read  it  over,  and  said  it  was  all  right;  and 
after  that  I  took  it  down  to  the  colored  housekeeper  to  mail. 
The  next  thing  that  happened  in  reference  to  Sarah  -  — ,  I  got 
a  telegram  from  her. 

I  went  down  to  the  depot  the  next  morning  to  meet  Sarah.  Mr. 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  117 

Van  Bever  told  me  to  go  down  to  meet  her,  and  everything  how 
to  get  down  there.  He  also  told  me  to  tell  her  after  I  got  her  to 
the  house,  to  say  that  she  came  up  of  her  own  accord,  and  that 
she  paid  for  her  own  ticket. 

I  met  her.  She  came  over  the  Wabash.  I  came  right  back  to 
the  "  Paris "  with  her.  Maurice  Van  Bever  runs  that  house. 
When  we  got  there  two  detectives  came  up  and  spoke  to  us. 
They  asked  Sarah  her  name,  and  after  they  went  away,  around 
one  o'clock,  I  introduced  Sarah  to  both  Mrs.  Van  Bever  and 
Maurice  Van  Bever,  and  they  spoke  to  her,  and  told  her  she  was 
a  real  nice  looking  girl,  and  that  she  would  get  along  all  right. 
Maurice  Van  Bever  patted  her  on  the  shoulder,  and  said  she 
would  get  along  nicely,  she  would  like  it.  That  was  all  that 
happened  in  my  presence  at  that  time. 

Then,  after  that,  I  went  on  upstairs. 

Since  then  I  have  talked  several  times  with  Mr.  Van  Bever 
about  Sarah  wanting  to  get  out  and  go  home,  but  I  don't  know 
just  exactly  the  date.  After  Sarah  was  there  about  a  week  he 
said  he  would  give  her  a  ticket  to  go  home,  and  would  send  her 
home,  but  Sarah  didn't  go.  The  next  time  I  was  getting  ready 
to  go  down  town  one  day,  and  got  into  a  conversation  about 
Sarah  going  home,  and  he  told  me  to  go  on  and  not  bother  about 
her.  Then  we  got  to  speaking  about  a  girl  named  Margaret,  how 
she  said  she  wanted  to  go  home  too.  Sarah  never  got  home. 
After  that  we  were  arrested. 

Mr.  Van  Bever  said  he  would  give  me  that  fifty  dollars  for 
bringing  Sarah  there,  but  I  did  not  get  it. 

All  these  conversations  that  I  have  told  about  with  Van  Bever 
and  all  that  I  have  told  about  took  place  in  the  City  of  Chicago, 
County  of  Cook,  and  State  of  Illinois. 

After  the  time  Sarah  entered  the  house,  there  were  staying 
there  between  seventeen  and  twenty  girls.  I  can't  say  exactly. 
These  girls  were  doing  the  same  thing  there  that  I  was.  At 
night  they  were  dressed  different,  some  wore  short  dresses,  and 
some  long  dresses. 

On  the  first  floor  of  the  house,  there  was  just  a  room  with  a 


118  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

piano  in  it,  and  a  settee.  There  was  a  saloon  in  the  front  part, 
and  there  was  a  door  between  the  saloon  and  this  room, — no, 
there  is  no  door  there,  just  an  open  space.  There  is  a  door 
place  there,  but  that  door  is  taken  away.  You  could  go  right 
through  from  the  saloon  to  the  house.  They  served  drinks  there 
in  the  house.  We  girls  got  checks  on  the  beer  we  got  fellows  to 
buy  there.  The  men  would  come  right  in  the  room  where  the 
settee  was,  and  drinks  would  be  served  there. 

The  lawyer  for  the  defendant,  Maurice  Van  Bever,  then  took 
up  the  thread  of  examination,  and  tried  to  break  down  the 
evidence  that  this  woman,  frail  looking  yet  sharp  as  a  tack,  had 
given.  That  he  did  not  succeed  is  here  shown. 

I  was  born  in  November,  1889,  in  St.  Louis.  In  the  month 
of  March  of  the  present  year  I  was  rooming  on  LaClede  Avenue 
with  my  husband.  We  were  married  the  Fourth  of  September, 
1907,  and  have  one  child,  twenty  months  old.  In  the  day  time 
I  worked  at  the  Grand  Laundry  checking.  I  worked  there  about 
a  month,  and  before  that  I  worked  at  the  Leader  Laundry.  Dur- 
ing the  holidays  of  last  year  I  worked  in  a  department  store 
down  town  as  a  saleslady.  I  have  lived  in  St.  Louis  all  my  life 
until  April,  when  I  came  to  Chicago.  I  had  never  been  in  Chi- 
cago before  I  came  in  April.  It  is  true  that  I  did  not  come  alone. 

A  girl  by  the  name  of  Florence and  two  fellows  came  with 

me.  Florence  told  me  she  was  nineteen  years  old.  I  do  not 
know  where  she  is  now.  I  only  know  the  name  of  one  of  the 
fellows  we  came  to  Chicago  with,  they  called  him  Bill.  We  got 
acquainted  with  him  in  St.  Louis,  on  Sixth  and  Market  Streets. 
He  just  came  up  and  spoke  to  Florence.  It  was  in  the  evening 
and  Florence  and  I  had  been  out  together  to  a  nickel  show.  The 
other  fellow  was  with  him.  I  do  not  know  his  name.  I  never 
asked  any  questions  about  it.  Florence  and  I  and  the  two  men 
left  for  Chicago  that  night.  I  do  not  know  where  this  other  man 
is  now.  I  saw  him  around  Van  Bever 's  place  for  about  two 
weeks  after  I  came  to  Chicago. 

The  first  day  we  were  in  Chicago  we  went  to  a  place  and  had 
breakfast.  I  do  not  know  where  the  place  was  located  or  any- 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  119 

thing  about  it.  I  stayed  that  night  at  Maurice  Van  Bever's 
place  on  Armour  Avenue.  This  fellow  they  called  Bill  took 
Florence  and  I  over  there.  I  was  sober.  We  had  had  wine  in 
the  morning,  but  had  not  drunk  any  during  the  day.  However, 
we  did  not  know  what  kind  of  a  place  it  was.  I  went  there  to 
work,  to  keep  books,  but  I  didn't  keep  books  there,  I  returned 
home  to  St.  Louis  the  next  morning. 

When  I  got  to  my  room  in  St.  Louis  I  saw  my  husband.  I 
stayed  there  three  or  four  days  and  then  I  returned  to  Chicago. 
My  husband  came  with  me.  We  went  to  Maurice  Van  Bever's 
place  in  the  morning  between  eight  and  eight  thirty  o'clock. 
I  knew  where  I  was  going  this  time.  I  didn't  go  for  work. 
They  promised  my  husband  a  position  there. 

In  the  month  of  May  of  this  year  I  stayed  part  of  the  time 
there  at  the  house,  and  part  of  the  time  I  stayed  on  Thirty-first 
Street.  My  husband  knew  where  I  was  living  and  where  I  was 
staying.  I  was  at  home  in  St.  Louis  from  the  last  part  of  June 
until  the  middle  of  July.  My  husband  took  me  home,  and  then 
he  came  back. 

I  met  Sarah  in  St.  Louis  for  the  first  time  last  winter  at  a  chop 
suey  place.  It  was  between  January  and  April,  I  don't  remem- 
ber exactly  the  time  it  was  though.  We  used  to  meet  each  other 
after  work.  I  made  about  three  appointments  to  meet  her  at 
chop  suey  places.  We  would  just  eat  or  go  out  to  a  theatre  or  go 
to  a  dance  or  something  like  that.  We  went  to  two  dances  that 
I  know  of. 

When  I  was  home  in  June,  between  June  and  July,  I  met  her 
at  the  summer  Garden,  the  West  End  Heights. 

Sarah  worked  as  a  servant  girl  in  St.  Louis.  I  do  not  know 
the  name  of  the  family  for  whom  she  worked,  but  I  know  the 
place.  It  was  on  Geyer  Avenue.  I  was  there  just  once,  two 
days  before  I  came  back  to  Chicago.  I  was  there  in  the  day 
time  on  Wednesday. 

At  that  time  my  husband  was  working  as  a  bar  tender.  He  met 
me  at  the  station  in  Chicago.  I  sent  him  a  telegram  to  meet 


120  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

me,  and  that  evening  about  eleven  o'clock  I  went  over  to  Van 
Bever 's  place,  and  I  saw  him  tending  bar  there. 

The  first  time  I  ever  talked  to  Mr.  Van  Bever  about  railroad 
tickets  was  when  I  came  up  in  April.  Nobody  was  present 
when  I  was  talking  to  him. 

When  I  came  to  Chicago  with  Bill  I  did  not  know  that  I  was 
going  to  an  immoral  house.  He  told  us  he  was  going  to  take  us 
over  and  see  about  a  position  there.  I  spoke  to  Mr.  Van  Bever 
about  my  husband  working  at  that  place,  and  he  said  he  would 
given  him  a  position  at  Eighteen  Dollars  a  week,  and  that  he 
would  pay  our  fares  up  here  from  St.  Louis.  He  told  me  I  could 
work  there  and  draw  nice  money.  He  did  not  say  what  kind  of 
work  I  was  to  do. 

The  next  witness  was  Sarah,  the  girl  who  had  been  procured 
for  Van  Bever 's  house.  She  will  tell  her  own  experiences: 

My  name  is  Sarah and  live  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.    I  was 

nineteen  years  old  on  the  Sixth  day  of  last  month.  During  the 
month  of  September,  while  I  was  working  in  a  private  family  in 
St.  Louis  doing  house  work,  I  received  a  letter  from  Mollie  Hart 
who  was  up  in  Chicago.  I  do  not  remember  what  was  in  the 
letter  as  I  destroyed  it  at  the  time  of  receiving  it.  I  talked  with 
Mollie  about  coming  to  Chicago  in  July.  I  did  not  know  Mike 
Hart  at  that  time,  but  I  know  him  now.  I  met  him  in  St.  Louis 
and  had  a  talk  with  him  about  coming  to  Chicago,  after  I  had 
seen  Mollie  Hart.  I  received  another  letter  from  Mollie  and 
after  getting  it  I  came  to  Chicago.  I  wrote  her  in  answer  to 
that  letter  that  if  she  would  send  me  a  ticket  that  I  would  come 
to  Chicago. 

I  left  St.  Louis  from  the  Union  Station  and  came  over  the 
Wabash  Eoad.  I  received  my  ticket  at  the  Union  Station.  I  got 
a  card  and  a  letter  and  went  to  the  Union  Station,  and  received 
a  ticket  and  signed  my  name  to  it.  I  didn't  pay  anything  for 
the  ticket.  When  I  arrived  in  Chicago  I  met  Mollie  in  front  of 
the  depot  and  came  right  out  to  the  Paris,  Maurice  Van  Bever 's 
place  at  Twenty-first  and  Armour  Avenue.  I  saw  Maurice  Van 
Bever  there  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  but  he  said 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  121 

nothing  to  me  at  that  time.  In  the  evening  he  said  that  I  would 
get  used  to  it,  and  then  I  would  like  it  after  I  got  used  to  it. 
The  next  evening  he  told  me  what  to  tell  the  officers  and  how 
to  talk  to  them.  He  told  me  to  tell  them  that  I  was  in  a  house 
like  that  before,  and  to  tell  them  that  I  was  twenty-one  years  old. 
He  said  I  was  a  good  looking  girl,  and  would  do  nicely  there.  I 
was  there  about  three  weeks,  and  always  told  him  that  I  wanted 
to  go  home.  I  had  never  been  in  a  sporting  house  before.  He 
told  me  what  to  do  in  the  house.  This  he  told  me  in  the  presence 
of  Mollie  Hart.  The  next  day  after  I  got  there  I  told  him  L 
wanted  to  go  home,  and  asked  him  for  a  ticket,  but  he  said  that  I 
would  get  used  to  the  place  and  then  I  would  like  it.  That  I 
would  get  some  clothes  and  then  I  could  go  home.  He  promised 
me  a  ticket  twice,  but  I  never  got  it.  He  said  I  couldn't  get  a 
ticket  because  I  owed  him  money,  and  that  if  I  paid  my  bill  I 
could  have  a  ticket. 

I  lived  on  Olive  Street  in  St.  Louis.  I  met  Mollie  Hart  about 
a  year  ago  while  down  town  in  a  department  store  and  after- 
wards in  chop  suey  places. 

After  I  came  to  Chicago  I  saw  two  police  officers  in  Van 
Bever's  place,  and  I  told  them  I  was  born  October  Sixth,  1887, 
and  was  twenty-one  years  old.  I  was  sober,  and  have  never 
been  intoxicated.  I  knew  that  I  was  telling  the  officers  an  un- 
truth. I  also  told  the  officers  that  I  had  been  a  prostitute  for 
six  months  before  I  had  come  to  Chicago  because  I  was  com- 
pelled to  do  so. 

I  came  from  St.  Louis  alone,  and  met  Mollie  Hart  in  the  depot. 
We  had  been  good  friends  in  St.  Louis.  When  I  went  with 
Mollie  to  Van  Bever's  place  it  was  about  half  past  eight  in  the 
morning.  I  realized  that  Van  Bever's  place  was  a  house  of 
prostitution  after  I  got  there,  but  I  did  not  come  to  Chicago  for 
that  purpose.  The  first  night  I  was  there  I  wanted  to  go  home, 
but  I  did  not  go  because  I  had  no  money. 

After  this  girl,  who  had  been  lured  to  the  life  of  a  white  slave, 
had  concluded  her  story  to  the  jury,  the  prosecutor  called  the 
name  of  Mike  Hart.  A  thin,  sallow  faced,  emaciated  young 


122  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

man  arose  and  walked  to  the  witness  chair,  and  told  his  story 
substantially  as  follows : 

My  name  is  Michael  Hart,  and  I  am  living  at  the  House  of 
Correction  at  the  present  time.  I  am  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  and  am  the  husband  of  Mollie  Hart.  I  first  met  Mr.  Van 
Bever  when  I  came  to  Chicago  in  April.  I  worked  for  him  as 
a  waiter  and  tended  bar  for  about  two  months.  Before  that 
time  I  lived  in  St.  Louis. 

THE  PRICE  OF  A  GIRL-JL  SUIT  OF  CLOTHES. 

About  the  first  of  July,  1909,  I  had  a  conversation  with  Van 
Bever  in  the  Paris  Buffet  about  going  to  St.  Louis.  He  asked 
me  if  I  could  get  any  girls,  and  gave  me  the  money  to  go  to 
St.  Louis,  and  while  there  I  saw  Sarah.  I  told  Van  Bever  about 
seeing  her  before  I  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  he  told  me  to  see  this 
friend  of  my  wife's,  and  if  I  could  get  her  and  bring  her  up,  he 
would  buy  me  a  suit  of  clothes.  He  also  said  that  if  I  needed 
any  money  or  tickets  to  telegraph  him  and  he  would  send  them 
to  me.  I  got  ten  dollars  from  him  while  I  was  in  St.  Louis,  and 
before  I  started  from  Chicago  he  gave  me  twenty-five  dollars.  I 
went  to  St.  Louis  on  two  different  occasions  and  brought  girls 
back.  I  came  back  from  St.  Louis  and  had  a  conversation  with 
Maurice  Van  Bever  about  Sarah.  I  told  him  that  I  had  seen 
her  and  he  got  my  wife  to  write  a  letter  to  her  and  try  to  get  her 
to  come  up  here.  I  saw  Sarah  here  in  Chicago  when  she  came 
to  the  Paris.  Van  Bever  told  me  she  was  a  nice  girl,  and  asked 
me  to  get  her  to  stay. 

While  acting  as  a  bar  tender  in  Van  Bever 's  place  I  once  in  a 
while  served  drinks  in  the  sporting  house.  Madam  Van  Bever 
paid  me  my  salary. 

Here  the  prosecutor  turned  the  witness  over  to  the  attorney 
for  the  defendant,  and  the  cross-examination  brought  out  the 
following : 

I  was  born  in  New  Orleans  in  1886  or  1887,  and  I  lived  there 
ten  years,  and  then  went  to  St.  Louis  where  I  lived  until  I  came 
to  Chicago  in  April.  I  was  sick  for  a  couple  of  months  before  I 


HOW  PANDERS  WORK  123 

came  to  Chicago  in  April.  Before  leaving  St.  Louis  I  worked 
there  in  the  Base  Ball  Park  doing  carpenter  work  for  a  couple 
of  months.  I  never  attended  bar  or  worked  in  a  saloon  in  St. 
Louis. 

I  was  married  two  or  three  years  ago  in  St.  Louis.  I  came  to 
Chicago  April  Thirteenth,  and  that  was  the  first  time  I  had 
ever  been  in  Chicago.  My  wife  came  a  couple  of  days  before 

that  date.  We  stayed  at Armour  Avenue.  I  did  not  work 

the  first  day  I  was  there,  but  the  second  day  I  started  to  work  as 
a  waiter  in  Van  Bever's  place.  I  worked  there  until  I  was  ar- 
rested on  October  thirteenth. 

I  first  met  Sarah  during  the  last  week  in  August,  in  St.  Louis. 
I  had  not  known  her  before  that  time.  I  saw  her  the  first  day 
she  came  to  Chicago.  My  wife  went  down  to  meet  Sarah  when 
she  came  here,  and  she  came  with  my  wife  to  Van  Bever's  place 
about  eight-thirty  or  nine  in  the  morning. 

The  prosecution  had  finished  and  as  Mike  Hart  left  the  witness 
stand,  the  lawyer  said :  ' '  The  State  rests  its  case  here. ' ' 

For  a  moment  there  was  a  lull  in  the  court  room,  and  there 
was  a  death-like  stillness  everywhere.  Every  one  who  had 
crowded  into  the  room  to  hear  this  supposedly  sensational  case 
eagerly  turned  toward  the  defendant.  Would  he  dare  to  go  to 
the  witness  stand  and  deny  under  oath  that  he  had  not  done  the 
things  his  own  agents  and  procurers  had  accused  him  of  doing. 
The  Judge  looked  toward  the  defendant.  His  lawyer  did  not 
stir  at  first.  There  was  a  quick  whispered  consultation,  and 
then  his  lawyer  arose  and  bowed  to  the  court,  and  said  the  de- 
fendant will  not  take  the  witness  stand. 

The  Judge  sat  back  in  his  chair,  while  the  lawyers  presented 
their  arguments  to  the  jury.  The  most  interesting  part  of  a 
trial  is  often  the  period  of  argument  by  the  lawyers.  Then 
oratory  and  logic  reign,  but  we  shall  leave  all  that  for  the  next 
chapter,  now  await  the  finding  of  the  jury. 

The  Judge  turned  to  the  jury  and  gave  them  their  instruc- 
tions as  to  the  law,  and  finally  the  twelve  men  filed  out  to  the 
jury  room  to  deliberate.  It  was  not  long  until  they  came  back 


124  HOW  PANDERS  WORK 

and  the  foreman  of  the  jury  handed  the  clerk  of  the  court  their 
decision. 

In  loud  voice  the  Clerk  read :  "  We  the  jury,  find  the  defendant, 
Maurice  Van  Bever  guilty." 

Later  the  Judge  gave  him  the  highest  sentence  under  the 
Illinois  law  for  the  first  offense,  namely,  one  year  in  the  House 
of  Correction,  and  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars. 

Yet  this  was  not  the  end.  Van  Bever  vowed  he  would  never 
go  to  prison.  His  case  was  appealed  to  the  Illinois  Supreme 
Court,  and  again  decided  against  him.  He  asked  for  a  rehearing 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  which  was  finally  denied  him. 

At  last  after  spending  thousands  of  dollars,  probably  a  large 
portion  of  it  contributed  by  the  ring  of  slave  traders  who  wanted 
to  see  the  Pandering  Law  smashed  into  pieces,  Maurice  and 
Julia  Van  Bever  were  sent  out  to  the  House  of  Correction  to 
serve  their  sentences. 

At  the  present  time  Mr.  Van  Bever  is  trying  to  get  his  wife 's 
sentence  shortened,  the  first  decent  thing  he  ever  did  for  hu- 
manity. In  the  following  affidavit,  filed  for  that  purpose,  he 
at  last  acknowledges  his  own  guilt,  and  takes  all  the  blame  upon 
himself. 

STATE  OF  ILLINOIS 
COUNTY  OF  COOK. 

MAURICE  VAN  BEVER  being  first  duly  sworn  deposes  and  says  that  he  is  the 
same  Maurice  Van  Bever  who  jointly  with  his  wife,  Julia  Van  Bever,  were  on  Novem- 
ber 27,  1909,  convicted  before  the  Honorable  Edwin  K.  Walker  of  the  Municipal 
Court  of  Chicago,  on  the  charge  of  pandering. 

Affiant  further  says  that  his  wife,  Julia  Van  Bever,  is  not  guilty  of  the  charge, 
and  that  he  alone  is  guilty  of  same,  and  that  the  responsibility  for  said  offense  should 
be  placed  on  him  alone,  and  not  upon  his  wife;  that  at  his  command,  she  did  not 
take  the  stand  at  the  trial  of  the  case.  (Signed)  MAURICE  VAN  BEVER. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  7th  day  of  March,  1911. 

(Signed)     ARTHUR  T.  CURRY,  Notary  Public. 
(Notarial  Seal.) 


CHAPTER 

ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  THE  SLAVE  TRADERS. 

The  man  who  was  the  owner  of  various  dives,  as  well  as  the 
driver  of  gangs  of  procurers,  sat  sphinx  like  and  brazen  as  the 
arguments  of  the  lawyers  began. 

BY  THE  PROSECUTOR. 

The  Prosecutor  spoke  first,  as  follows : 

1 '  May  it  please  the  Court,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury : 

"It  is  always  incumbent  upon  the  state,  or  the  one  represent- 
ing the  state  in  a  criminal  case  to  make  the  opening  and  the 
closing  address  to  the  court  and  the  jury. 

"In  this  case  we  have  the  defendant,  Maurice  Van  Bever, 

charged  with  procuring  one  Sarah ,  a  female  inmate  for 

an  immoral  house. 

"The  Court  will  tell  you  gentlemen  that  your  duty  in  this 
case  will  be  to  determine  whether  or  not  this  defendant  is  guilty, 
and  when  you  have  rendered  that  verdict  it  is  for  the  Court  to 
determine  what  the  sentence  shall  be. 

"It  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  prove  that  the  defendant  is  guilty 
beyond  all  reasonable  doubt ;  but  that  means  a  reasonable  doubt. 
You  are  sitting  here  to  determine  this  case  just  the  same  as  if 
you  were  out  in  the  street  talking  over  a  matter  of  this  sort  so 
far  as  a  reasonable  doubt  is  concerned.  That  is  to  say  you  are 
to  use  the  same  reason  here  that  you  would  use  if  you  were  at 
home  talking  this  matter  over,  and  a  reasonable  doubt  means  a 
doubt  that  comes  reasonably  from  the  whole  evidence  after  you 
have  heard  it  all.  If  you  do  believe  all  the  evidence  beyond  a 
reasonable  doubt  that  this  defendant  committed  this  crime  then 
it  is  your  duty  to  find  him  guilty. 

"And  then  there  are  circumstances  in  this  case  which  prove 

125 


126  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

the  defendant  guilty.  I  believe  the  state  has  proven  by  direct 
testimony  that  the  defendant  is  guilty.  If  there  was  not  suf- 
ficient direct  testimony  to  prove  the  defendant  guilty  you  would 
have  the  right  to  take  the  circumstantial  evidence  into  considera- 
tion. But  the  circumstances  and  the  facts  go  together. 

"Now  let  us  see  what  they  are.  The  evidence  is  that  in  the 
month  of  May,  Mollie  Hart,  the  young  woman  who  went  upon 
the  witness  stand  first,  was  living  with  her  husband  in  St.  Louis. 
She  was  out  with  a  friend  one  night  and  she  met  a  fellow  whose 
name  was  Bill — she  does  not  know  anything  about  the  rest  of  his 
name — Bill  and  another  fellow.  They  persuaded  her  and  an- 
other girl  to  come  on  to  Chicago  with  them ;  told  them  that  they 
were  going  to  get  them  positions  as  bookkeepers,  or  something 
of  that  sort.  She  came  on  with  them  to  Chicago.  Now  I  don't 
know — she  might  have  known  where  she  was  going;  she  might 
have  been  a  little  wayward;  I  do  not  know  why  she  came,  but 
she  did  come,  and  she  went  to  this  house — she  only  stayed  one 
day  the  evidence  shows — and  Van  Bever  told  her — she  probably 
told  him  she  was  married — to  bring  her  husband  down  and  he 
would  give  him  a  job  as  bartender  at  this  place  at  eighteen  dol- 
lars a  week.  Now  the  testimony  shows  that  the  husband  came, 
and  that  Mollie  came  back  with  him,  and  it  is  clear  that  this  place 
is  a  house  of  ill  repute.  Along  in  June,  Mollie  went  to  St. 
Louis  and  this  defendant,  Van  Bever,  said  to  her:  'Now  when 
you  go  to  St.  Louis  get  some  girls  and  bring  them  back  with 
you.'  He  says:  'I  will  buy  their  tickets  and  you  write  to  me, 
and  I  will  send  the  tickets,  and  then  when  you  bring  them  back 
I  will  give  you  fifty  dollars.'  Now,  Mollie  went  back;  she 
met  her  young  friend  Sarah  whom  she  had  known  there  before. 
She  had  met  her,  the  evidence  shows,  at  a  chop  suey  place,  and 
had  met  her  at  one  or  two  dances,  and  this  last  summer  she  went 
to  where  Sarah  was  working  as  a  house  servant,  a  hard  working 
girl,  and  tried  to  get  the  girl  to  come  up  to  Chicago  in  order  that 
she  might  get  that  fifty  dollars,  but  Sarah  did  not  come. 
Mollie  came  back,  and  Van  Bever  said:  *  Where  is  the  girl  that 
I  sent  the  ticket  forf  Can't  you  get  the  ticket  back  so  I  can 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  127 

get  the  money  back  for  it  ? '  What  did  he  want  to  get  the  money 
back  for?  Why,  he  didn't  want  to  lose  anything.  This  was 
in  the  middle  of  July. 

"Now  these  are  circumstances  leading  up  to  this  case.  We 
lay  this  case  after  the  first  of  July.  The  testimony  which  fol- 
lowed showed  that  later  Mike  Hart  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  Van 
Bever  said  to  him:  *I  want  you  to  see  that  young  girl  that  Mol- 
lie  was  talking  about  and  see  if  you  can't  get  her  down  here.' 
Mike  went  to  see  Sarah,  but  she  did  not  come.  Finally  Mollie 
wrote  two  letters,  and  the  last  one  she  showed  to  Van  Bever, 
and  he  told  her  what  to  write,  and  told  her  to  write  Sarah  to  go 
to  the  Wabash  station  and  there  would  be  a  ticket  for  her,  and 
to  tell  her  to  come  down.  Then  he  read  the  letter  over  to  see 
if  it  was  all  right,  and  to  see  if  he  had  everything  just  as  he 
wanted  it,  and  then  Mollie  gave  it  to  a  colored  maid  of  this  house 
and  it  was  mailed.  It  was  mailed  because  Sarah  said  that  she 
got  the  letter  in  St.  Louis.  And  she  must  have  received  it  be- 
cause she  went  to  the  Wabash  station  and  she  did  not  buy  a 
ticket ;  but  when  she  got  there  she  said  she  received  a  ticket  for 
nothing.  You  see  how  the  evidence  dovetails — how  it  fits  to- 
gether. When  she  came  to  Chicago  Mollie  Hart  was  down 
there  to  meet  her  and  Mollie  took  her  out  to  this  house.  The 
night  before  Van  Bever  told  Mollie  to  get  up  early  and  go  down 
to  meet  this  girl  from  St.  Louis. 

"I  want  to  show  you  that  here  was  a  hard  working  girl;  and 
that  this  man  caused  his  tools,  these  two  people,  to  go  and  get 
her.  Do  you  think  we  have  a  law  to  stop  that!  Do  you  think 
our  law  would  not  cover  a  thing  like  that,  when  a  girl  is  trying 
to  do  the  best  she  can,  when  she  is  working  hard  as  a  house 
servant,  and  goes  to  another  city  to  better  her  condition? 
There  is  no  doubt  in  the  world  that  Mollie  was  procured  in  the 
first  place  by  that  man  Bill,  and  sold  into  that  house  when  he 
lied  to  her  as  to  where  he  was  going  to  take  her.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  Sarah  was  procured ;  she  was  brought  up  here,  and 
came  here  to  get  work,  and  did  not  know  what  kind  of  work  it 
was.  She  said:  'I  didn't  have  any  money.  How  was  I  going 


128  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

to  get  back?'  The  evidence  showed  that  this  Van  Bever  prom- 
ised to  send  her  back,  but  he  did  not.  The  testimnoy  further 
shows  that  she  was  in  debt  and  could  not  leave  because  of  that 
debt. 

"Now  there  is  Mike  Hart.  I  do  not  know  what  you  gentlemen 
think  of  Mike  Hart.  Perhaps  you  don't  think  very  much  of 
him,  I  don't  blame  you.  But  I  believe  you  think  just  as  much 
of  him  as  you  do  of  this  man  who  has  used  him  for  a  tool,  the 
man  who  is  really  the  cause  of  his  keeping  his  wife  in  this 
house.  Mike  is  one  of  those  easy  going  fellows  who  take  things 
as  they  come.  He  says  Van  Bever  told  him  to  go  down  to  St. 
Louis  and  get  girls,  and  that  he  tried  to  get  Sarah,  and  after 
she  did  come  to  Chicago  Van  Bever  said  to  him  now  you  help 
me  to  try  to  keep  her  here  for  she  is  a  good  girl.  Van  Bever 
says:  'You  are  a  good  looking  girl,  you  will  do  fine;  you  just 
stay  with  us.'  How  was  the  girl  going  to  get  away?  She  did 
not  even  know  where  she  was  in  this  city;  didn't  know  the 
streets.  She  had  no  friends  to  go  to,  no  money  to  get  back 
home  with.  She  asked  to  get  away,  and  she  could  not  do  so 
because  she  was  in  debt.  In  debt  for  the  ticket  that  they  sent 
her ;  in  debt  for  the  parlor  clothes  they  placed  on  her,  charging 
four  and  five  times  what  they  are  worth,  and  taking  her  street 
clothes  and  locking  them  up. 

6  i  Now  we  have  brought  you  all  the  evidence  we  have0  We  have 
brought  you  here  the  girl  that  was  procured.  We  have  brought 
the  woman  who  procured  her.  We  have  brought  in  the  man 
who  went  down  after  her  and  tried  to  bring  her  back.  We  have 
shown  you  how  Van  Bever  told  Mollie  to  write  a  letter,  and  how 
Sarah  came  here  on  a  ticket  paid  for  and  sent  by  Van  Bever. 
Was  he  not  the  procurer  in  this  case?  Did  he  not  encourage, 
advise,  aid,  assist,  and  abet,  and  is  he  not  the  same  as  a  principal 
in  this  case  ?  Is  he  not  just  as  guilty  as  the  poor  little  girl  who' 
was  used  as  a  tool?  Isn't  he  as  guilty.  He  is  the  principal 
in  this  case;  he  is  the  man  behind  the  whole  business,  and  when 
counsel  asked  Mike  Hart  where  he  worked,  if  he  worked  in  Van 
Bever 's  place,  he  said:  *I  was  in  one  house  that  he  owned.' 


Richard   Dorsey  Louis    Fleming 

$300   fine  and  6  months  in  prison  $800    fine    and    1    year    in    prison 


Thomas   England,  Jr.  Andrew    Lietke.   alia-    Andy    Uyan 

$-iO()    fine   and    1    year   in   prison  $300   fine   and    i\    months   iii    pri-^n 

FOUR    CRUEL   AND    INHUMAN   WHITE    SLAVE    TRADERS— CHAPTER    XI 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  129 

That  shows  that  he  has  more  than  one  place.  Gentlemen,  are 
there  not  enough  girls  going  wrong  of  their  own  free  will,  with- 
out friends  like  this  sending  out  panders,  paying  railroad  fares 
to  bring  girls  here  to  make  them  degraded  and  debased  and  bad 
altogether? 

"Gentlemen,  Sarah  told  you  one  thing,  and  that  is  the  thing 
for  you  to  keep  in  your  mind.  She  told  you  that  she  was  a  work- 
ing girl,  and  counsel  could  not  deny  it.  She  told  where  she 
worked  there  on  Geyer  Avenue,  and  she  told  you  for  whom  she 
worked.  Mollie  stated  that  she  went  to  see  her  there  one  day 
when  she  was  in  St.  Louis,  and  this  girl  was  working  at  that 
place.  She  had  been  working  as  a  girl  would  work  who  was  an 
honest  good  girl.  Counsel  will  try  to  make  you  believe  that  she 
is  a  drunkard.  Does  she  look  like  a  drinking  girl,  even  though 
she  has  been  in  that  house  of  prostitution  for  three  weeks- 
brought  there  by  this  man? 

"His  lawyer  tried  to  show  that  the  very  first  night  she  was 
there  Mike  brought  drinks  into  her?  Of  course  he  took  drinks 
in  there.  That  is  what  Van  Bever  paid  Mike  to  do.  When 
she  found  out  what  sort  of  a  place  it  was  she  had  got  into,  the 
testimony  shows  that  all  the  time  she  was  there  she  wanted  to 
get  away. 

"Now  whether  this  is  morally  right  or  not,  it  is  not  for  us  to 
say.  I  think  that  every  one  of  us  knows  that  such  a  procuring 
business  as  this  is  not  morally  right.  We  may  differ  as  to 
whether  or  not  there  should  be  segregation,  or  whether  or  not 
there  should  be  immoral  houses.  But  we  cannot  differ  on  this ; 
that  it  is  legally  and  morally  wrong  to  bring  girls  here,  to  en- 
courage them  to  come,  to  send  them  money  or  tickets  or  in  any 
other  way  aid  them  to  come  here  on  the  false  pretence  that  they 
are  going  to  get  honest  work  some  place  when  they  get  here, 
and  then  get  them  into  a  den  of  vice  where  they  can't  get  away 
and  thus  make  bad  girls  out  of  them.  Now  that  is  not  morally 
or  legally  right;  and  that  is  what  this  law  means,  that  it  is 
against  the  law  and  wrong  to  procure  an  inmate  for  a  house  of 
vice,  and  knowing  that  gentlemen,  there  is  only  one  thing  for 


130  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

you  to  do — there  is  only  one  thing  that  can  be  done  in  this  case, 
and  that  is  to  find  this  defendant  guilty." 

BY  THE  DEFENCE. 

Then  the  counsel  for  Maurice  Van  Bever  arose  and  said: 
"May  it  please  your  Honor,  and  you,  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury: 
"You  and  I  met  as  strangers;  we  will  part  as  friends. 
"There  is  only  one  thing  to  do  says  the  prosecutor,  and  that  is 
to  find  the  defendant  guilty.    Let  us  see. 

'  '  Gentlemen,  we  are  not  on  the  street  talking  about  this  case, 
as  he  would  have  you  believe.  This  is  not  a  political  campaign. 
Not  at  all.  You  are  not  at  home  telling  your  wife  what  you  think 
about  this  or  about  that.  You  are  in  a  court  of  justice,  before  an 
American  judge ;  doing  what  ?  Determining  as  best  you  can, 
coolly  and  calmly,  knowing  that  one  day  you  will  be  called  upon 
to  render  an  account  for  every  act  and  deed  in  this  life.  You 
are  here  to  determine  what?  Whether  the  prosecution  has  sat- 
isfied your  cool  reason  and  your  calm  judgment  and  your  con- 
science that  the  evidence  in  this  case  supports  this  information 
and  convinces  your  mind  of  the  truth  of  that  charge  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt.  We  are  living  in  a  state  that  we  are  all 
proud  of,  a  state  whose  laws  make  it  the  duty  of  the  juror  in- 
dividually to  decide  for  himself  as  to  whether  a  citizen  should  go 
free,  or  shall  be  sent  to  a  prison  cell  which  is  another  name  for  a 
living  grave.  Since  the  foundation  of  our  state  that  he  been  our 
law;  and  I  hope  it  will  always  be  the  law.  I  read  from  the 
twenty-third  Illinois  reports  Fisher  v.  The  People.  Section 
118  of  the  Criminal  Code  declares  in  the  most  pointed  and  em- 
phatic language  that  juries  in  a  criminal  case  shall  be  judges  of 
the  law  and  the  fact.  Mark  that.  This  is  universal  language. 
This  power  is  conferred  in  the  most  unqualified  terms  says  our 
supreme  court.  'It  has  no  limits  that  we  can  assign  to  it.  It  is 
a  matter  between  their  conscience  and  their  God,  with  which  no 
power  can  interfere.'  The  jury  are  not  bound  to  take  the  law 
laid  down  to  them  by  the  court.  That  is  the  law  of  this  state. 
May  it  ever  remain  so.  Being  the  law  of  this  state  the  judge  or 


ARGUMENTS  FOE  AND  AGAINST  131 

public  prosecutor  who  criticises  a  juror  because  he  acquits  his 
fellow  man  acts  not  as  an  American  citizen,  acts  not  as  a  fair 
minded  man,  but  as  a  tyrant.  No  judge  and  no  state's  attorney 
under  our  law  has  the  right  to  find  fault  with  the  honest  verdict 
of  a  juror.  His  conscience  and  his  judgment  are  his  sole  guides. 
This  is  the  principle  for  which  the  American  colonies  fought 
during  eight  long  years.  This  is  the  principle  for  which  Wash- 
ington and  his  army  fought,  and  in  this  land  a  man's  heart  and 
conscience  and  judgment  should  be  his  own  in  matters  of  this 
kind. 

"What  does  a  reasonable  doubt  mean?  When  are  you  satis- 
fied beyond  a  reasonable  doubt  that  the  defendant  is  guilty  under 
the  law  and  the  evidence? 

There  was  a  time  gentlemen  in  California  when  the  poor  China- 
man could  not  get  a  fair  trial.  Passion  and  prejudice  and 
hatred  and  malice  were  in  the  jury  box.  But  when  this  case 
goes  to  the  upper  court  in  California  what  is  the  result.  There 
coolness  and  calmness  prevail.  Then  they  say  that  this  is  a 
government  of  laws,  and  not  a  government  of  white  men  or  of 
Chinamen. 

Yes,  gentlemen,  passion  and  prejudice  swayed  the  jury  in 
the  Caleb  Powers  case  in  Kentucky.  That  young  republican, 
Caleb  Powers,  was  forced  to  be  tried  by  twelve  men  who  were 
opposed  to  him  politically,  filled  with  that  passion  and  prejudice 
which  ruled  in  the  jury  box.  Three  long  trials  in  the  Caleb 
Powers  case,  but  thank  God,  although  the  judges  of  the  Appel- 
late courts  and  Supreme  court  of  Kentucky  were  not  of  the 
political  faith  of  Caleb  Powers  they  said  as  Grosscup  says: 
"This  is  a  government  of  laws,"  and  not  of  democrats  or  re- 
publicans, and  they  reversed  that  case  three  different  times. 
The  fourth  time  came  and  then  it  was  manifest — then  it  was 
clear  that  perjury  was  in  the  witness  chair,  and  it  was  clear 
that  twelve  jurors  stood  out  and  said  No  we  are  not  satisfied 
that  this  young  man  is  guilty,  we  are  not  only  going  to  ask  the 
Governor  to  pardon  him,  but  we  will  ask  him  to  pardon  these 
two  men  who  were  brought  up  here  from  the  penitentiary  to 


132  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

testify  against  him.  What  was  the  result ?  Caleb  Powers  was 
a  free  man,  walking  the  streets  of  our  city  only  a  few  weeks 
ago.  Eight  long  years  did  he  remain  behind  prison  bars  while 
these  perjurers  were  working  against  him. 

Juries  have  made  mistakes.  When?  When  the  court  and 
the  prosecutor  unite  in  giving  the  defendant  a  jury  that  is  in- 
capable of  reasoning.  But  that  is  not  the  case  here.  That  is 
not  the  situation  here,  thank  God.  No.  No  Caleb  Powers  jury 
sits  before  me.  No  such  jury  as  tried  that  great  orator  Daniel 
O'Connell  sits  before  me. 

You  men  each  of  you  said  that  you  knew  nothing  about  the 
merits  of  this  case,  and  did  not  know  anything  about  this  case. 
I  firmly  believe  that  you  told  me  the  truth.  You  said  you  pre- 
sumed the  defendant  innocent.  What  have  you  been  doing 
with  that  presumption  of  innocence?  Have  you  been  using  it 
against  the  accused?  Or  have  you  been  using  it  for  the  ac- 
cused? " Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty."  If  you  are 
actuated  by  prejudice  or  passion  in  this  case  who  knows  but  you 
or  your  friend  may  be  the  next  victim  of  judicial  tyranny.  What 
would  be  the  result  ?  Chaos,  anarchy.  All  liberty  is  lost. 

What  is  my  contention  in  this  case?  My  contention  under 
the  law  and  the  evidence  in  this  case  is  that  neither  Mollie  Hart 
nor  Mike  Hart  or  Van  Bever  is  guilty  under  this  law.  Why? 
Why,  the  Jewish  girl;  you  have  seen  her!  you  have  heard  her 
testify;  always  sober  when  she  was  at  Van  Bever 's  place.  Oh 
yes.  The  men  were  always  under  the  influence  of  liquor — or  at 
least  they  were  sometimes,  but  Sarah  always  had  her  head  about 
her.  What  does  that  mean?  It  means  she  is  always  cool  and 
calm  with  all  the  characteristics  of  her  race;  cool  and  calm; 
always  her  head  about  her.  When  is  she  cool  and  calm  ?  When 
does  she  always  have  her  head  about  her?  When?  When  she 
is  about  to  put  money  in  her  purse  ?  When  was  a  woman  of  her 
race  other  than  cool  and  calm  when  money  was  the  paramount 
issue?  So  then  Sarah  is  cool  and  calm.  Did  you  come  here, 
Sarah,  to  go  to  work  in  Marshall  Field 's  store?  No.  Did  you 
come  here,  Sarah,  to  attend  a  Sunday  school  ?  No:  Did  you  come 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  133 

here  to  work  in  a  dry  good  store  ?  No.  To  work  in  some  depot  ? 
No.  When  did  you  first  know  that  this  was  an  immoral  house! 
Well,  the  third  day  after  I  got  there?  Do  you  remember  that 
answer  of  the  Jewish  girl!  Three  days  after  she  got  there  she 
knew  it  was  a  house  of  prostitution.  Well,  what  have  you  here  ! 
You  have  a  girl — not  an  innocent  Jewish  girl,  not  an  innocent 
American  girl,  but  a  girl  who  is  capable  of  coolly  and  calmly 
planning  as  to  how  she  shall  get  the  dollar.  We  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  moralities  or  the  characters  of  the  heart.  We 
have  nothing  to  do  with  immorality  of  this  Jewish  girl.  We 
have  to  determine  whether  or  not  it  is  safe  to  convict  a  citizen 
under  our  law  in  this  case. 

Mike  Hart  is  an  accomplice.  Mollie  Hart  is  an  accomplice. 
If  Van  Bever  is  the  principal  then  there  must  be  an  accomplice 
in  this  case.  What  weight  should  you  give  to  the  testimony  of 
an  accomplice?  Have  you  ever  thought  about  that?  If  the 
testimony  here  is  to  be  believed,  as  introduced  by  the  prosecu- 
tion, then,  as  in  the  Caleb  Powers '  case,  there  are  many  accom- 
plices. The  jury  in  that  case  ten  to  two  refused  to  believe  the 
accomplice.  Eemember  that  my  contention  is  that  neither  Mollie 
Hart  is  guilty,  nor  is  Mike  Hart  guilty  in  this  case.  But  he 
contends  that  they  are,  and  that  they  are  accomplices.  Their 
testimony  has  been  questioned  in  England,  and  in  this  country 
by  the  courts  of  the  highest  responsibility  and  standing.  It 
has  been  doubted  many  times  whether  convictions  upon  such 
testimony  alone  should  be  allowed  to  stand.  But  in  this  state 
convictions  may  be  procured  upon  the  testimony  of  accomplices, 
if  the  jury  believes  them.  But  is  it  safe  to  act  upon  it  ? 

Now  mark  this  language  of  the  Supreme  Court:  "But  the 
authorities  agree  and  common  sense  teaches  that  such  evidence 
is  liable  to  grave  suspicion  and  should  be  acted  upon  with  the 
utmost  caution.  Otherwise  the  liberty  or  life  of  the  best  citizen 
might  be  taken  away  on  an  accusation  by  the  real  criminal,  made 
either  to  shield  himself  from  punishment,  or  to  gratify  his 
malice. ' ' 

Now,  if  I  do  not  in  my  effort  assist  you  in  understanding  the 


134  ARGUMENTS  FOE  AND  AGAINST 

principles  of  law  involved  in  this  case,  then  I  do  not  practice 
law.  You  will  remember  that  I  told  yon  in  the  beginning  of 
this  case,  or  rather  when  we  were  selecting  the  jury,  that  the 
burden  of  proof  is  upon  the  prosecution.  Now,  that  is  the  law. 
Am  I  right  in  that?  Yes.  The  31st  Illinois  expressly  states 
so.  This  is  the  Hobbs'  case,  and  there  we  find  this  language: 
"Can  it  be  properly  said  in  a  criminal  case  that  the  burden  of 
proof  ever  shifts  so  long  as  the  defendant  bases  his  defense  on 
a  denial  of  any  essential  allegations  in  the  indictment  T '  A  plea 
of  not  guilty  is  on  record  here.  We  have  said  we  are  not  guilty. 
We  have  called  upon  the  prosecution  to  prove  their  charge  be- 
yond a  reasonable  doubt.  They  are  bound  by  every  principle 
of  correct  pleading,  by  every  principle  of  justice  to  maintain 
their  allegations  here.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  prosecution 
to  shift  that  burden  on  the  defendant.  The  burden  of  proof 
must  always  remain  with  the  prosecution  to  prove  the  guilt  of 
the  defendant  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt. 

Now  I  am  not  going  to  spend  much  time  in  debating  to  you 
whether  this  law  is  constitutional  or  not.  I  will  tell  you  why. 
My  contention  is  that  no  one  is  guilty  in  this  case  even  under 
this  law.  Neither  Mollie  Hart  nor  Mike  Hart,  nor  anyone  is 
guilty  in  this  case ;  and  I  will  tell  you  why.  Sarah  was  born  in 
a  well  known  American  city,  where  there  are  all  nationalities 
and  all  creeds.  Now  she  meets  Mollie  Hart.  She  is  about  her 
own  age.  What  do  they  do  in  Saint  Louis  together?  Well,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  both  of  them  they  visited  chop  suey 
houses.  They  were  there  alone.  They  went  there  by  appoint- 
ment. They  were  at  the  dance  house  together.  And  of  course 
while  they  were  at  the  dance  house  they  were  engaged  in  re- 
peating the  Lord's  prayer,  or  else  they  were  trying  to  memorize 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  And  when  they  were  at  the 
Parks  of  course  they  were  thinking  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  or 
they  were  reading  or  recalling  one  of  the  great  poems  of  the 
past.  Now,  at  these  chop  suey  places  and  the  parks  and  the 
dance  halls  what  were  they  thinking  about!  What  were  they 
doing?  Were  they  planning  and  scheming  for  the  dollar?  Yes? 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  135 

And  she  did  plan  and  scheme  for  the  dollar  day  and  night,  and  is 
not  easily  deceived.  Not  being  easily  deceived  she  cannot  easily 
be  procured.  She  procured  herself  here.  And  therefore  no  one 
is  guilty  under  the  law. 

Sarah  came  to  Chicago  of  her  own  free  will  and  accord.  She 
came  on  the  train  alone.  Mike  Hart  says  that  he  met  her  at 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  street  in  Saint  Louis.  Eleven  o'clock  at 
night  on  the  street  in  Saint  Louis,  this  innocent  little  Jewish 
girl.  God  help  us  and  God  help  the  Jews.  If  they  were  all  in- 
nocent as  little  innocent  Sarah  we  would  soon  be  able  to  pay  off 
our  mortgages. 

This  Act  says:  "any  person  who  shall  procure  a  female  in- 
mate for  a  house  of  prostitution ' ' ;  what  is  the  meaning  of  the 
word  procure?  That  is  very  important  in  the  trial  of  this 
case.  To  illustrate.  Suppose  that  A  and  B  get  into  a  quarrel 
on  the  street  and  you  stand  quietly  by  and  you  do  not  say  a  word 
to  the  men.  You  do  not  make  an  effort  to  separate  them.  You 
let  them  quarrel  to  the  end  and  one  of  them  kills  the  other.  Still 
you  are  not  guilty  of  any  crime  under  the  law.  If  you  merely 
stand  by  and  do  nothing  you  are  innocent.  No  one  can  be  guilty 
in  any  case  for  doing  an  act  unless  when  he  did  the  act  the  mind 
was  criminal. 

(Counsel  here  read  a  case  cited  at  length.) 

In  the  course  of  that  case  in  passing  upon  the  legal  significance 
of  the  word  "procure"  they  use  this  language:  "The  principle 
involved  either  as  to  the  question  of  pleading,  evidence  or 
judicial  determination" — Now,  we  have  those  three  things  here 
in  this  case,  the  pleading,  the  evidence,  and  we  ask  for  your 
judicial  determination  because  each  one  of  you  under  the  law  is 
the  judge  of  the  law  and  the  fact. 

Now,  what  is  the  definition  given  in  this  case  of  the  word 
"procure";  "To  import  an  initial,  active  and  wrongful  effort." 
That  is  the  definition  of  the  word  procure.  As  this  court  said : 
"It  imports  an  initial,  active  and  wrongful  effort."  Where  is 
the  wrongful  effort  here? 

Suppose  you  are  satisfied  that  Mollie  Hart  is  guilty.    Sup- 


136  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

pose  you  are  satisfied  that  Van  Bever  is  guilty.  But  if  you 
cannot  tell  which  one  is  guilty  under  the  law  what  is  your  duty  ? 
Why  your  duty  as  the  law  has  laid  down  in  the  sixteenth  Illinois, 
and  in  California,  both — here  is  a  case  tried  long  ago — John  A. 
Logan — afterwards  United  States  Senator,  was  the  District 
Attorney.  That  opinion  is  written  by  that  scholarly  Judge 
Paton.  There  was  a  colored  man  on  trial.  Perhaps  prejudice 
and  hatred  and  malice  were  in  the  jury  box  there.  The  colored 
man  was  convicted.  Did  hatred  and  prejudice  and  malice  in- 
fluence the  Supreme  Court  ?  No.  The  colored  man  got  another 
trial,  and  in  giving  him  another  trial  they  used  this  language, 
and  this  language  is  applicable  to  the  trial  in  this  case:  "Al- 
though it  may  be  positively  proven  that  one  or  two  or  more 
persons  committed  a  crime  yet  if  it  be  uncertain  which  is  the 
guilty  party  all  must  be  acquitted."  No  one  can  be  convicted 
until  it  is  established  that  he  is  the  party  who  committed  the 
offense. 

£  Edmond  Burke,  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  the  world,  a 
man  who  shone  as  an  orator  in  the  British  Parliament,  said, 
"you  cannot  indict  a  whole  race."  So  in  America  you  cannot 
convict  men  by  wholesale.  Now  what  does  that  law  mean?  It 
means  that  although  you  may  believe  that  all  people,  the  Harts 
and  the  Van  Bevers  are  guilty,  yet  unless  you  are  satisfied  be- 
yond a  reasonable  doubt  that  he  is  guilty  and  they  are  innocent 
then  you  cannot  convict  him. 

The  perjurer  has  often  been  in  our  courts.  So  the  perjurer 
is  in  this  case.  Beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  perjury  is  in  this 
case.  Mollie  Hart  says  that  she  met  Sarah  at  the  depot.  They 
went  directly  to  Van  Bever 's  and  they  both  talked  to  Van 
Bever.  They  got  there  at  half  past  eight  in  the  morning,  and 
they  say  that  Van  Bever  didn't  see  this  girl  until  the  afternoon. 
These  women  cannot  be  believed. 

But  what  is  my  contention  here?  That  they  are  not  guilty 
under  the  law.  Why?  This  woman  is  full  grown;  she  has  all 
her  senses;  she  has  all  the  cunning  of  her  race;  all  the  ability 
to  scheme;  the  skill  to  arouse  the  passions  of  men  so  as  to  put 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  137 

money  in  her  purse.  She  comes  here  of  her  own  free  will  and 
accord.  No  one  is  guilty  under  our  law. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  one  more  proposition  of  law  and  I  am 
done.  You  said  to  me  that  you  had  no  opinion  in  this  case. 
You  said  you  would  not  require  the  defendant  to  prove  his  in- 
nocence. You  said  you  would  require  the  prosecution  to  prove 
guilt.  If  you  have  now  made  up  your  minds  to  convict  this  de- 
fendant you  are  acting  not  as  American  citizens  doing  their 
duty,  but  as  tyrants.  The  minority  rules  in  church  and  state; 
and  in  the  jury  box  many  times  the  minority  has  been  right. 
But  whether  right  or  wrong  this  defendant  under  our  laws  has 
the  right  to  your  judgment,  your  conscience  and  your  reason. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  presumption  of  innocence  ?  What 
have  you  been  doing  with  that  principle  of  law?  What  does 
the  law  require  you  to  do  ?  It  requires  you  to  reconcile  all  the 
testimony  if  you  can  with  the  theory  that  the  defendant  is  not 
guilty  under  the  law.  It  requires  you  to  reconcile  the  testimony 
on  the  theory  that  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses  does  not  tend 
to  show  guilt.  And  it  is  even  more  than  that — the  presumption 
of  innocence.  Have  you  been  using  it  that  way?  Does  the  law 
demand  that  you  should  so  use  it?  Am  I  right  or  am  I  wrong? 
A  few  minutes  more  and  the  last  word  will  be  said  for  my  client. 
The  principle  that  there  is  a  presumption  of  innocence  in  favor 
of  the  accused  is  the  undoubted  law  and  its  enforcement  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  the  administration  of  the  criminal  law. 
Criminal  law  has  to  do  with  a  criminal  mind.  Unless  criminal- 
ity of  mind  is  proven  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt  then  there  is 
not  guilt  before  the  law  of  man  or  God.  He  who  differs  with 
his  fellow  man  as  to  the  way  in  which  he  should  worship  his 
God  if  he  does  so  honestly  is  innocent  in  the  sight  of  God. 
That  is  the  Doctrine  of  the  great  Mother  Church.  That  is  the 
Doctrine  of  Christianity  that  he  who  differs  with  his  fellow 
man  honestly  stands  innocent  before  his  Creator.  And  so  this 
decision  will  last  while  religion  lasts.  "The  juror  who  re- 
fuses to  give  the  full  effect  and  benefit  of  the  presumption  of  in- 
nocence to  his  fellow  man  practices  not  law  but  anarchy. "  "It 


138  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

is  stated  as  unquestioned  in  the  text  books,  and  has  been  referred 
to  a  matter  of  course  in  the  decision  of  this  court,  and  the  courts 
of  several  states ' '  and  they  cite  many  long  cases.  Was  that  al- 
ways the  law?  Nations  have  armed  themselves  to  the  teeth; 
nations  have  trained  their  citizens  to  committing  wholesale 
murder;  but  there  has  always  been  an  intelligent  minority,  that 
believed  in  the  presumption  of  innocence;  a  minority  that  says 
don't  convict  your  fellow  man  on  doubtful  or  unsatisfactory 
evidence;  don't  presume  that  your  fellow  man  is  guilty.  That 
intelligent  minority  has  been  working  in  that  way  for  centuries. 
That  intelligent  minority  forced  the  tyrant  King  John  to  sign 
the  Magna  Charta.  That  intelligent  minority  fought  with  Wash- 
ington for  seven  long  years  against  the  powerful  British  Em- 
pire. That  intelligent  minority  stands  here  today  doing  what? 
battling  that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  shall  remain 
in  full  force  and  effect.  That  the  man  who  is  charged  with 
crime  shall  be  given  a  fair  American  trial ;  and  that  intelligent 
minority  will  continue  to  work  until  this  country  shall  blossom 
like  the  rose. 

Ah,  the  defendant  runs  a  house  of  prostitution;  let  us  con- 
vict him.  That  would  be  to  jump  to  a  conclusion ;  you  promised 
me  you  would  not  do  it.  In  this  case  they  say  "I  am  sorry  to 
see  that  the  public  prosecutor  treats  this  too  lightly.  He  seems 
to  think  the  law  entertains  no  presumption  of  innocence.  I 
presume  that  this  presumption  is  to  be  found  in  every  code  of 
law  which  has  reason  and  religion  and  humanity  for  a  founda- 
tion." Gentlemen,  American  law  has  for  its  foundation  reason 
and  humanity  and  religion.  Yes,  Franklin,  Washington, 
Charles  Carroll,  Patrick  Henry,  all  these  men  were  capable  of 
reasoning,  they  believed  in  the  religion  of  Christ ;  they  had  man- 
hood ;  and  they  wrote  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  they 
signed  it,  and  they  drew  up  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
So  our  law  is  founded  upon  humanity,  reason  and  religion. 

It  is  the  desire  for  a  victim  manifested  in  the  trial  of  this  case 
by  one  third  of  the  tribunal.  You  have  not  manifested  any 
desire  for  a  victim.  This  Honorable  Court  has  been  most 


ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST  139 

courteous  and  most  fair.  No  desire  for  a  victim  on  the  bench 
here :  but  gentlemen,  before  you  can  have  a  fair  trial  in  America 
a  third  part  of  the  tribunal  must  be  fair  and  impartial.  The 
Judge  must  be  fair  and  impartial ;  the  jury  must  be  fair  and  im- 
partial ;  and  the  public  prosecutor  must  be  fair  and  impartial. 
Peculiar  things  have  come  out  in  the  trial  of  this  case.  The 
prosecutor's  conduct  in  this  case  has  been  most  peculiar.  Time 
and  time  again  this  honorable  court  ruled  against  him  on  ques- 
tions of  evidence  which  he  contended  was  admissable  and  which 
he  well  knew  was  not  admissible. 

I  tell  you  gentlemen  of  the  jury  that  the  prosecutor  who  time 
and  time  again  tried  to  get  before  the  jury  hearsay  testimony 
and  incompetent  testimony  with  the  court  ruling  repeatedly 
against  him  is  doing  that  which  makes  it  clear  that  he  is  not 
animated  by  a  desire  to  give  the  defendant  a  fair  trial.  Under 
our  American  law  the  prosecutor  should  be  like  the  judge  on  the 
bench.  He  should  be  cool  and  calm.  Why?  He  represents  the 
people.  He  represents  your  neighbor,  your  wife,  and  you  fam- 
ily. They  desire  no  victims?  They  desire  that  no  man  shall 
be  convicted  unless  the  evidence  is  clear  and  conclusive. 

Gentlemen,  the  prosecutor  when  impanelling  you  asked  you  if 
you  would  stand  by  your  own  convictions.  I  now  ask  you  to 
stand  by  your  own  convictions.  He  asked  whether  the  fact  that 
the  defendant  was  a  Frenchman  would  make  any  difference  with 
you.  His  race,  nationality  or  creed  is  not  in  evidence.  But  you 
have  taken  an  oath  to  give  him  a  fair  American  trial, 
under  the  unbending  rules  of  law.  A  fair  trial  means 
what?  It  means  the  stability  of  our  country;  the  perpetuity  of 
American  institutions;  it  means  that  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  are  the 
supreme  laws ;  it  means  that  your  conscience  will  never  trouble 
you  hereafter. 

Gentlemen,  my  first  words  to  you  were :  We  met  as  strangers ; 
we  will  part  as  friends.  I  cannot  part  without  thanking  you 
for  your  patient  attention;  and  I  cannot  take  my  seat  without 


140  ARGUMENTS  FOR  AND  AGAINST 

thanking  the  Honorable  Court  for  his  most  patient  and  uniform 
courtesy  manifested  throughout  the  trial  of  this  case. 

You  and  I  will  never  forget  this  case.  If  you  desire  a  victim 
you  have  the  power  to  sacrifice  one.  If  you  are  determined  to 
obey  the  oath  you  have  taken  and  give  this  man  a  fair  and  im- 
partial American  trial  then  your  duty  is  most  serious  and  sol- 
emn. Do  your  duty. 

When  this  able  address  was  concluded  the  prosecutor  did  not 
hesitate  to  admit  that  he  was  alarmed.  It  has  been  a  dangerous 
speech.  Its  purpose  was  to  confuse  the  jury  as  to  the  testi- 
mony, to  prejudice  them  against  the  prosecution,  and  to  ob- 
tain at  least  a  disagreement.  If  one  or  two  men,  "the  great 
minority "  as  the  attorney  put  it,  could  be  made  to  believe  that 
Van  Bever  was  technically  not  guilty,  then  the  defense  would 
be  successful  in  preventing  his  conviction. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

HOW  THE  LEADER  OF  A  WHITE  SLAVE  GANG  WAS  CONVICTED. 

As  the  defendant's  lawyer  was  closing  his  address,  the  pros- 
ecutor watched  the  jury  carefully  and  was  convinced  that  Van 
Bever's  lawyer  had  made  a  deep  impression  on  several  of  them. 

The  scheme  of  the  defense  must  be  thwarted.  The  fences 
built  to  inflame  the  jury  against  the  prosecution  must  be  broken 
down.  The  crafty  insinuations  must  be  torn  to  pieces,  and  light 
thrown  upon  the  haze  the  defendant's  attorney  had  tried  to 
leave  the  jurors  in.  It  was  necessary  to  bring  to  their  minds 
again  the  facts  as  they  were  in  the  case. 

The  prosecutor  knew  that  he  must  battle  hard  to  overcome  the 
influence  of  this  speech  upon  the  jury.  It  had  been  one  of  those 
twisted,  zigzagging  first  one  way  and  then  another,  speeches, 
which  are  hard  to  attack  in  the  vital  spot. 

As  the  attorney  resumed  his  place  at  the  opposite  side  of  the 
table,  the  attorney  for  the  state  arose  and  began  the  closing 
battle : 

"May  it  please  the  Court,  and  you,  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury, 
this  is  an  important  case ;  it  is  an  important  case  for  this  reason, 
because  upon  this  case  will  hinge  the  determination  whether  or 
not  the  people  will  continue  to  fight  against  fellows  who  are 
procuring  girls  for  houses  of  shame.  Perhaps  a  jury  never  sat 
in  this  country  upon  a  more  important  case,  more  important  to 
the  welfare  and  the  social  good  and  being  of  this  country.  Per- 
haps when  you  came  here  you  did  not  have  any  idea  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  case  that  you  were  going  to  hear. 

"Now,  counsel  for  the  defendant,  said  some  things  slight- 
ingly about  the  prosecution,  and,  if  I  thought  that  he  really 
meant  what  he  said  I  would  feel  very  badly,  because  we  have 
been  friends  for  years — known  each  other  well,  and  I  believe 

141 


142  HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED 

he  thinks  and  knows  that  this  case  has  been  and  is  being  tried 
fairly,  and  that  it  is  honestly  prosecuted.  Eight  down  in  his 
heart  he  knows  and  he  thinks  that,  because  I  know  him  as  a 
man.  But,  gentlemen,  when  you  come  to  defend  a  man  when 
there  is  no  evidence  upon  which  you  can  predicate  an  argument, 
it  is  one  of  the — I  won't  say  *  tricks  of  the  trade'  of  the  lawyers, 
but  it  is  one  of  the  ways  of  lawyers  to  try  to  make  the  prosecutor 
the  defendant  by  trying  to  embarrass  him ;  and  that  is  what  was 
done  in  this  case ;  there  was  very  little  said  about  the  evidence. 

"Gentlemen,  counsel  for  the  defendant  made  a  wonderful 
argument  with  the  evidence  that  he  had  in  his  hand.  He  didn't 
say  very  much  about  the  evidence  in  this  case.  He  did  say  a 
great  deal  about  different  books  and  about  different  great  men ; 
but  if  you  think  he  made  a  fine  speech,  you  ought  to  hear  him 
when  he  is  at  his  best,  when  his  heart  is  really  in  his  case — be- 
cause his  heart  is  not  in  this  case.  Oh,  he  can  make  a  fine  argu- 
ment, one  of  the  greatest  arguments  in  the  city  of  Chicago; 
but  it  was  not  made  in  this  case,  although  it  was  a  very  good 
and  eloquent  argument,  because  his  heart  was  not  there. 

"Lawyers  defend  men,  they  must  defend  men;  they  must  de- 
fend them  of  murder,  kidnapping,  no  matter  what  it  may  be; 
but  I  am  glad  to  say  that  in  this  city  the  law  does  not  compel 
any  lawyer  to  take  every  case ;  and,  thank  God,  I  have  never,  and 
will  never  take  a  case  where  the  fee  paid  me  is  in  dollars  coined 
from  the  tears  of  some  poor  misguided  girl. 

"Honesty  is  the  best  policy.  It  is  best  to  be  honest  in  action, 
honest  in  words,  honest  in  your  conscience;  and  I  know  that 
counsel  in  this  case — for  I  know  him  as  a  man  and  a  good  man — 
is  not  honest  with  his  conscience. 

"I  am  not,  your  Honor  and  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  going  t6 
argue  with  counsel  for  the  defendant  in  this  case ;  I  am  not  be- 
ginning to  do  so  now.  I  am  a  young  man  and  I  know  that  I  could 
not  cope  with  a  man  who  has  been  twenty  years  at  the  business, 
a  man  who  has  studied  hard  and  argued  before  juries  for  so  long ; 
but  I  am  going  to  try  to  do  my  best  to  represent  you,  because 


HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED  143 

you  are  the  people,  and  we  are  representing  the  people  in  this 
case. 

1 1  Now,  gentlemen,  what  was  said  yesterday  in  counsel 's  argu- 
ment. Everything  that  was  said  in  his  argument  could  be  said 
iny  any  case.  He  could  go  over  here  to  the  Criminal  court  today 
in  a  murder  case,  in  a  larceny  case,  or  any  criminal  case  and  use 
the  same  argument  that  he  used  here  yesterday.  Nothing  was 
said  about  the  evidence  except  perhaps  a  little  let  in  to  give  him 
a  chance  to  tell  about  Patrick  Henry,  George  Washington  or 
some  other  great  man.  It  was  Horace  and  the  splendid  heroes, 
but  it  was  not  to  the  point ;  and  I  am  going  to  try  in  my  weak 
way  to  tell  you  gentlemen  about  this  case.  I  am  not  going  to 
talk  about  Patrick  Henry  and  George  Washington  and  all  the 
great  men  of  the  country;  I  am  not  going  to  talk  about  ancient 
history  and  come  down  to  the  present  time;  but  I  am  going  to 
try  to  talk  about  this  case  and  show  you,  if  I  can,  why  this  de- 
fendant is  guilty,  why  it  is  your  duty  in  this  case  to  find  him 
guilty ;  and  gentlemen  my  heart  is  in  it  because  it  is  one  of  the 
vital  issues  here  in  the  city. 

"Counsel,  by  using  these  books,  told  you  nothing  but  funda- 
mental law.  He  told  you  exactly  what  I  said  when  I  first  began 
my  argument.  He  read  to  you  law  about  reasonable  doubt,  and 
expatiated  and  expounded  that  law,  and  told  what  a  great  man 
the  fellow  was  that  wrote  it.  Then  he  told  you  about  circum- 
stantial evidence ;  and  then  the  next  was  the  presumption  of  in- 
nocence. Well,  that  is  a  law  that  is  fundamental.  The  court 
knows  it  is  fundamental ;  we  all  know  it  is  fundamental ;  and  we 
are  not  going  to  allow  the  wool  to  be  pulled  over  our  eyes  by 
standing  up  here  and  reading  a  lot  of  fundamental  principles 
that  we  all  agree  to. 

"I  agree  to  everything  that  counsel  read  from  these  law 
books.  I  am  not  trying  to  controvert  them,  because  they  are 
true;  they  are  fundamental  principles  of  law:  That  the  State 
must  prove  the  defendant  guilty  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt; 
that  circumstantial  evidence  must  be  clear  circumstantial 
evidence,  taking  all  the  circumstances  together  before  you  base 


144  HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED 

your  conclusion  upon  them ;  and  the  presumption  of  innocence, 
I  said  in  my  opening  argument,  if  you  gentlemen  will  remember, 
that  the  defendant  is  presumed  to  be  innocent,  as  he  comes  into 
this  court  room  and  that  he  is  presumed  to  be  innocent  until 
evidence  comes  in  here  so  strong  that  it  convinces  each  one  of 
you  that  he  is  guilty,  and  I  want  you  to  give  him  the  benefit  of 
that  presumption  of  innocence.  I  don't  want  you  to  be  swayed 
by  passion  or  prejudice,  because  this  is  such  an  important  case 
to  the  public ;  but  I  want  you  to  be  swayed  only  by  the  facts  in 
the  case,  and  I  shall  try,  as  best  I  can,  to  show  you  the  facts  in 
this  case. 

"All  that  was  said  by  opposing  counsel  was  either  to  try  to 
bias  you  against  the  prosecuting  attorney,  or  to  try  to  make  this 
case  sort  of  hazy  before  you ;  to  bring  in  a  lot  of  books  so  that 
you  would  forget  the  evidence  in  the  case. 

' l  The  evidence  in  this  case  shows,  gentlemen,  that  Molly  Hart 
was  arrested.  The  evidence  shows  that  she  is  now  in  the  House 
of  Correction.  She  must  be  there  for  some  reason.  Counsel 
would  have  you  turn  this  man  loose,  the  man  who  had  her  write 
letters,  the  man  who  had  persuaded  the  girl  to  go;  he  would 
have  you  turn  this  man  loose  and  let  that  poor  little  girl  serve 
her  time  out  there. 

' '  This  man  is  the  principal  in  this  case.  He  is  the  man  who  is 
guilty  of  the  whole  business ;  and  let  me  show  you  why.  Here  is 
the  letter  that  is  in  evidence  in  this  case.  The  envelope  is  ad- 
dressed to  Mr.  M.  J.  Hart,  Number  Market  Street,  St. 

Louis,  Missouri,  bearing  the  post  mark  Chicago,  Illinois,  Sep- 
tember second,  two  A.  M.  and  post  mark  on  the  back  of  it  reads, 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  September  seventh,  1909,  received.  The 
letter  reads :  (Letter  same  as  Mollie  Hart  wrote  in  Chapter  VII.) 

"This  is  written  by  Molly  Hart  to  her  husband  at  the  time, 
you  remember  according  to  the  evidence  here,  he  was  in  St. 
Louis  and  this  letter  was  admitted  in  evidence. 

"This  is  written  by  Molly  in  Chicago  to  St.  Louis — 'and  they 
are  watching  for  you  when  you  return,  so  if  you  got  any  girls 
coming  up  here  you  had  better  send  them  a  few  days  later,  or 


HELD  IN  WHITE  SLAVERY.  WILL  YOU  HELP  FREE  HER? 

Her  clothes  are  taken  from  her.  She  has  no  friends  and  no  money. 
She  is  hundreds  of  miles  from  home,  a  prisoner  in  a  vile  resort. — Chap- 
ter VII. 


Copyright  by  The  Midnight  Mission 

"FOR  GOD'S  SAKE,  SAVE  ME." 

While  our  missionaries  were '  holding  services  one  stormy  night 
in  January,  the  door  of  a  vice  resort  flew  open  and  out  rushed  one  of 
the  inmates,  crying,  "For  God's  sake,  save  me." — Chapter  XXI. 


HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED  145 

either  get  off  at  Hinsdale, ' — get  off  at  Hinsdale  out  a  little  ways 
— 'and  put  them  in  a  hotel  for  a  few  days,  or  else  don't  bother 
with  the  girls.  Mr.  Van  Bever  said  so.  You  had  better  do 
something  and  don't  fool  too  long,  and  get  the  boss  sore  at  you 
too.  I  told  Mr.  Van  Bever  what  you  said  about  the  girls  and  he 
told  me  to  write  what  I  did,  how  to  send  the  girl. ' 

' l  There  you  have  it.  We  are  not  going  to  forget  this  evidence, 
are  we,  gentlemen?  Here  is  the  letter;  it  is  in  evidence.  'Well, 
baby  got  a  little  thinner,  I  am  having  much  bother  with  that 
boil  on  my  arm ;  that  is  all  out,  the  bad  blood  and  matter,  and  I 
got  a  hole  in  my  arm  you  could  let  your  little  finger  in,  that  is, 
the  front  part  of  it  and  the  whole  left  of  my  arm.  When  you 
get  to  my  mother's  tell  her  that  is  why  I  could  not  write  and  I 
had  no  salve,  and  ask  her  to  give  you  some  and  then  she  won't 
be  angry.  Well,  you  said  to  write  them.  I  ain't  got  the  time 
nor  I  can  hardly  write  now  with  my  arm  so.  You  can  explain 
to  my  mother.  Well,  have  you  got  a  headache?  I  feel  sorry, 
but  you  don't  have  to  worry  about  me  and  the  baby,  we  are 
getting  along  all  right.  Everything  will  be  all  right  if  you 
come  back  the  way  I  told' — is  meant  by  everything  is  0.  K. — 
'if  you  come  back  next  week.  Well  dear,  I  wish  it  were  next 
Tuesday  too,  for  I  would  like  to  see  you.  Well,  I  close  with 
love.  I  want  you  to  wire  at  once.  With  love  I  remain  your 
wife.  Please  destroy  this  letter  so  nobody  sees  the  address, 
2101  Armour  Avenue.  Burn  this  letter  and  telegram  you  re- 
ceived from  me,  leave  the  girls.  Wait  a  few  days,  but  you  come 
back  at  once  alone.' 

"Now,  there  is  the  letter.  You  will  take  this  to  the  jury  room, 
with  you  probably.  You  are  not  going  to  get  confused  as  to 
that,  are  you?  You  are  going  to  remember  that.  You  are  go- 
ing to  remember  that  this  man,  according  to  this  letter  and  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  in  this  case,  is  in  the  business  of  pro- 
curing, of  sending  men  and  women  out  to  get  girls,  unfortunate 
girls,  and  bring  them  here  into  his  dens  in  Chicago ;  and  you  are 
not  going  to  forget  that,  either,  are  you? 

"Now,  let  us  take  up  just  a  few  things  here  in  order  that  they 


10 


146  HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED 

were  brought  out  by  counsel.  I  am  not  going  to  take  too  much, 
time,  but  I  am  going  to  take  just  enough  time  to  lay  before  you 
calmly  and  coldly  the  facts  in  this  case. 

"Counsel  has  said  that  this  is  a  sort  of  deformed  court  that 
has  three  arms.  It  is  not  true ;  it  is  not  a  deformity,  this  court. 
It  is  like  any  man  with  two  arms,  the  jury  and  the  judge.  I  am 
no  more  a  part  of  this  court  than  counsel  is.  He  is  an  officer 
of  this  court,  sworn  to  do  his  duty  here,  the  same  as  I  am  sworn 
to  do  my  duty,  to  bring  to  you  gentlemen  in  the  best  way  we 
can,  an  honest  exposition  of  the  facts  in  this  case. 

"Everything  that  was  said  by  counsel  could  be  said  in  any 
case.  I  want  to  impress  that  upon  you.  Whether  his  argument 
was  the  result  of  mature  study  of  the  last  twenty  years,  it  is  for 
you  to  say;  but  it  certainly  was  a  learned  argument,  so  far  as 
all  the  confusion  that  could  be  brought  into  the  case  was  brought, 
in  so  far  as  telling  you  all  about  the  great  men  of  this  world 
and  the  history  of  this  world;  comparing  this  man  with  Goebel 
down  in  Kentucky;  Goebel,  a  citizen  of  Kentucky.  Why  is  he 
to  be  compared  with  this  man?  If  this  man  is  the  honest  cit- 
izen that  counsel  would  have  you  believe  he  is,  then  take  me  out 
of  the  court.  I  don't  want  to  associate  with  a  citizen  like  that, 
a  man  who  sneaks  around  and  procures  girls. 

"Now,  he  calls  this  little  girl  a  prostitute,  and  is  there  a  bit 
of  evidence  in  this  case  to  show  that?  Not  a  scintilla  of  that 
evidence  shows  she  got  a  cent  and  yet  he  calls  her  a  prostitute ; 
he  calls  her  a  harlot.  According  to  the  definition  prostitution 
is  the  act  or  practice  of  offering  a  body  to  indiscriminate  inter- 
course with  men,  setting  one 's  self  up  for  sale.  This  is  in  Web- 
ster 's  International  Dictionary,  and  it  shows  that  money  must 
be  involved.  Openly  giving  herself  up  to  lewdness  for  money, 
constitutes  one  a  harlot. 

"Is  there  any  evidence  in  this  case  that  little  Sarah  hung  up 
her  shingle  and  said  that  she  was  open  for  other  engagements  ? 
No,  not  a  bit  of  it,  and  yet  counsel  would  have  you  believe  that 
she  was  a  prostitute  before  she  came  to  Chicago.  In  the  thirty- 
fourth  chapter  of  Genesis  in  the  Bible,  thirty-first  verse,  it 


HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED  147 


says:  'And  they  said  should  he  deal  with  our  sister  as  with  an 
harlot. '  Should  he  deal  with  this  little  girl  as  an  harlot  ?  Should 
he  try  to  blacken  her  and  make  her  worse  than  she  already  is? 
He  has  tried  to;  he  has  called  her  a  prostitute;  and  the  little 
girl  wanted  to  get  out  of  this  house.  She  wanted  to  do  the  best 
she  could.  When  she  got  here  the  very  first  thing  she  wanted 
to  do  was  to  get  away,  yet  she  was  not  strong  enough,  her  mind 
was  not  strong  enough;  and  yet  he  calls  her  a  harlot;  would 
have  you  do  that.  If  you  call  your  daughter  an  harlot,  if  she 
happens  to  make  a  mistake,  is  that  fair?  Are  you  going  to  sit 
here  as  American  jurors  and  allow  a  man  to  call  a  little  girl  a 
prostitute,  against  the  moral  code,  the  legal  code,  and  the  code 
of  his  church  when  she  is  not?  Oh,  gentlemen,  it  is  wrong.  It 
is  wrong  to  try  to  make  a  girl  more  degraded  than  she  is.  She 
has  made  her  mistake,  she  is  an  unfortunate  girl ;  but  she  never 
was  a  prostitute. 

' 'Of  course,  so  far  as  this  case  is  concerned,  gentlemen,  it 
would  not  make  a  bit  of  difference  whether  this  girl  was  a  pros- 
titute or  not  before  she  came  here,  but  the  evidence  is  so  over- 
whelming that  she  was  not  a  prostitute; — the  old  law  is  out, 
it  would  not  make  a  bit  of  difference  now  if  she  was  a  woman 
of  shame.  So  far  as  this  law  is  concerned,  it  does  not  say  that 
you  can  procure  a  girl  who  has  been  a  prostitute ;  you  can  not 
procure  any  female  and  bring  her  here  and  put  her  into  a  house 
of  prostitution. 

"  Counsel  said  we  are  living  in  a  State  we  are  all  proud  of. 
Yes,  we  are.  We  are  living  in  a  State  where  the  first  pandering 
law  in  the  United  States  was  passed.  We  are  living  in  a  state 
that  was  the  pioneer  in  the  fight  against  the  procuring  of  girls, 
unfortunate  girls,  and  I  am  proud  to  be  living  in  such  a  state 
where  we  have  got  a  Legislature  that  has  got  the  will  to  pass  a 
law  like  that ;  and  I  am  glad  that  I  am  living  in  a  state  where 
we  will  have  a  jury  that  will  protect  a  law  like  that. 

"Now,  I  want  to  set  you  right  on  this.  You  know  I  did  say, 
when  I  first  addressed  you,  that  reasonable  doubt  was  reasonable 
doubt.  I  said  I  did  not  want  you  to  cast  aside  your  common 


148  HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED 

sense,  as  you  might  term  it,  when  you  came  in  here ;  to  use  the 
same  common  sense  that  you  use  in  your  home  or  on  the  side- 
walk. Counsel  tried  to  twist  that  around.  You  noticed  how  all 
these  things  were  twisted  around,  trying  to  confuse  the  minds 
of  this  jury,  trying  to  twist  them  around.  I  didn't  say  that 
this  court  was  not  more  important  than  if  we  were  out  on  the 
sidewalk  standing  talking  about  this  case.  No,  I  did  not  say 
that,  because  I  don't  believe  that.  I  believe  that  this  is  an  im- 
portant court.  But  I  do  say  this,  that  you  must  use  the  same 
common  sense  in  this  court  as  you  would  use  any  place,  even 
though  you  were  in  your  home  or  out  on  the  walk ;  and  that 
same  common  sense  must  be  used  in  considering  whether  or  not 
there  is  a  reasonable  doubt  in  this  case.  There  is  no  use  of 
trying  to  twist  a  thing  like  that  around,  trying  to  prejudice  the 
jury  against  the  prosecutor  in  a  way  like  that. 

"Then  counsel  would  have  you  think  that  because  this  girl 
happened  to  be  a  Jewish  girl — German  Jewish  girl  she  is — he 
said  born  in  St.  Louis.  There  is  no  evidence  here  where  she  was 
born.  She  was  born  abroad,  if  that  is  to  be  brought  into  this 
case.  He  said  because  of  that  that  she  coolly  and  calmly  came 
here  in  order  that  she  might  line  her  pockets  with  men 's  money. 
He  would  have  you  believe  that  she  came  here  for  the  purpose 
of  the  Jewish  instinct  of  getting  more  money. 

"Now,  is  that  such  a  bad  thing  after  all?  Are  we  to  dispar- 
age, to  discourage  girls  trying  to  get  better  salaries,  even  though 
it  might  be  in  some  other  city?  I  believe  that  it  is  laudable, 
that  they  should  be  encouraged,  that  they  have  the  right  to  go 
where  they  will,  if  they  can  raise  themselves  in  this  life  and  get 
better  positions.  We  are  always  looking  for  something  better, 
aren't  we?  And  that  is  what  this  girl  did.  She  says  she  didn't 
know  she  was  going  to  a  disorderly  resort,  and  there  is  not  a  bit 
of  evidence  to  contradict  her,  is  there?  She  said  she  came  here 
to  get  work,  and  there  is  not  a  bit  of  evidence  to  contradict  her, 
is  there?  She  said  she  worked  as  a  house  servant  in  St.  Louis; 
and  have  they  brought  anybody  here  from  St.  Louis  to  say  that 
she  did  not?  She  said  she  came  here  to  get  a  higher  salary 


HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED  149 

and  to  get  honest  work,  and  didn't  know  she  was  coming  to  an 
immoral  place.  Now,  is  that  such  a  wrong  thing? 

"Then  counsel  would  have  it  that  she  was  using  her  Jewish 
instinct ;  but  after  she  got  here,  after  she  went  into  this  house  of 
prostitution,  she  could  not  get  away;  she  didn't  have  money  to 
get  away.  She  wanted  to  get  away  twice ;  they  made  promises 
that  she  could  go  back  home,  but  they  would  not  give  her  a 
ticket. 

"The  jury  in  this  case  has  common  sense.  If  counsel  would 
like  to  have  you  forget  it,  I  know  you  have  not.  Why,  counsel 
will  have  you  believe  that  Van  Bever  is  a  great  philanthropist. 
Why,  here  is  a  man  who  will  send  a  ticket  up  to  St.  Louis  to 
help  the  girl  get  a  better  job.  Why,  he  is  one  of  the  greatest 
philanthropists  in  the  world.  Anyone  that  wants  a  job  any 
place,  he  will  send  a  ticket  and  bring  them  here ;  he  is  a  good 
fellow;  there  is  nothing  in  it  for  him. 

"He  sent  the  ticket  to  St.  Louis.  This  letter  was  written  for 
the  girl  to  go  and  get  the  ticket  for  nothing.  Why,  think.  He 
is  a  good  Samaritan.  Sits  down  and  tells  Molly,  'Now,  Molly 
write  to  St.  Louis  for  your  little  friend  to  come  up  here  and  get 
a  nice  position. '  Oh !  yes,  he  is  a  good  fellow,  this  Van  Bever. 
That  is  the  way  counsel  wants  you  to  think  of  him. 

1 4  Now,  gentlemen,  something  was  said  by  counsel  and  a  great 
deal  was  read  about  the  word  ' procurement.'  He  said  Molly 
or  Mike  were  not  guilty  at  all,  because  the  word  ' procure'  did 
not  mean  what  is  intended  in  this  information.  Well,  what 
does  it  mean?  I  read  again  from  Webster's  International  Dic- 
tionary. 

"There  are  four  different  sections  of  what  'procure'  means 
in  Webster's  International,  and  I  have  taken  them  each  as  they 
are:  'Procure':  To  cause  to  come;  to  bring;  to  attract.' 
Didn't  Van  Bever  cause  this  girl  to  come?  Didn't  he  have  her 
brought  here?  Wasn't  she  attracted  here?  '2.  To  bring  into 
possession;  to  provide  for  one's  self  or  another;  to  gain;  to 
obtain  by  any  means'— that  is  the  strongest;  'to  obtain  by  any 
means;  to  get  her,  procure  her  by  any  means;  to  solicit  her;  to 


150  HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED 

cause;  to  effect;  to  bring  about/  Now,  this  information  says 
that  he  did  then  and  there  procure  Sarah ,  a  female  in- 
mate ;  he  obtained  her  by  any  means,  yes,  he  brought  her  here ; 
he  attracted  her  here ;  he  caused  her  to  be  brought  here ;  and  he 
procured  her.  That  is  what  *  procure'  means,  and  that  is  the 
definition  of  it. 

Counsel  said  something  about  three  days;  I  don't  remember 
that.  I  remember  she  said  that  she  knew  it  was  a  house  the  first 
night,  don't  you  remember  that?  And  she  also  said  that  she 
wanted  to  get  away  when  she  found  what  sort  of  a  place  she  was 
in.  She  also  said  that  she  didn't  have  any  money  to  get  away 
with;  that  she  was  in  debt  to  this  place  and  didn't  have  any 
money  to  pay  that  debt;  and  she  could  not  get  away. 

"Counsel  has  said  too,  that  this  jury  system  must  be  upheld, 
that  it  is  really  the  foundation  and  the  bulwark  of  our  great 
American  public.  He  said  that  Eome  and  Carthage  fell  because 
of  the  degradation  of  the  jury  systems  and  of  the  courts;  but 
let  me  tell  you  this,  gentlemen,  that  Eome  and  Carthage  never 
fell  because  of  the  downfall  of  the  courts  and  the  jury  system. 
Eome  and  Carthage  fell,  as  history  shows  us,  because  of  the  so- 
cial conditions.  Eome  and  Carthage  and  Greece  fell  because  of 
panders  and  procurers,  because  the  social  condition  of  the  coun- 
tries became  so  rotten  and  the  cities  became  so  corrupt,  because 
men  procured,  because  the  social  life  became  degraded,  and  be- 
cause juries  upheld  this  degradation  of  the  social  life,  they  fell; 
and  he  wants  this  jury  to  uphold  this  degradation  and  this  rot- 
ten system  of  procuring ;  and  if  the  juries  of  this  country  did  so, 
we  could  all  predict  the  fall  of  this  country;  but  they  are  not 
going  to  do  it. 

"Now,  counsel  said  that  if  it  was  uncertain  who  committed  the 
crime,  you  cannot  convict.  Well,  it  is  not  uncertain  who  com- 
mitted the  crime.  That  means  this,  that  if  some  one  killed  a  per- 
son or  stole  money  and  he  could  not  tell  which  one  did  it,  which 
one  stole  it,  and  some  one  happened  to  be  out  in  the  street  run- 
ning and  we  could  not  tell  which  was  the  man,  then  if  both  were 
arrested  you  could  not  convict  both  of  them ;  but  it  does  not  mean 


HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED  151 

that  if  three  or  four  people  are  banded  together  in  committing 
a  crime  that  you  cannot  convict  all  of  them,  or  any  of  them. 
We  have  fellows  who  go  into  the  stores,  one  steals  while  the 
other  watches,  and  you  can  convict  both  of  them. 

"Also  he  says  that  Van  Bever  is  a  victim.  He  says  we  are 
trying  to  make  a  victim  out  of  Van  Bever.  Are  we  trying  to 
make  a  victim  out  of  Van  Bever?  Or  is  Van  Bever  trying  to 
make  a  victim  out  of  the  public  and  its  daughters?  Which  is  it? 
What  does  the  evidence  in  this  case  disclose?  Why,  there  has 
not  been  a  contradiction  of  our  witnesses.  Their  truth  and 
veracity  was  not  shaken  by  cross-examination. 

"Molly  Hart  was  procuring,  according  to  this  evidence,  she 
came  here  as  a  bookkeeper  and  got  into  these  ways,  and  this  is 
the  man  who  got  her.  You  remember  Molly  was  brought  to  his 
place,  don't  you?  Why,  Sarah  is  not  the  only  one  that  Van 
Bever  procured.  You  can  see  that  there  is  a  business  of  pro- 
curing going  on.  Go  out  and  get  girls  and  you  can  have  a  new 
suit  Van  Bever  said  to  Mike;  'go  out  and  get  girls.' 

' '  Did  Molly  write  that  letter  of  her  own  volition  ?  Why,  no,  it 
was  this  fellow,  so  this  fellow  could  be  protected,  so  that  Mike 
would  not  go  into  the  Central  Eailroad  Station  with  the  girls 
and  Mike  would  be  arrested,  and  Van  Bever  would  not  be  found 
out ;  Van  Bever  sent  him  up  there  to  get  more  girls.  That  is 
the  reason  he  had  Molly  write  that  letter,  isn't  it? 

"And  Mike  Hart  came  home  with  Sarah,  but  before  he  went 
Van  Bever  said,  as  the  jury  will  remember,  'When  you  go  up 
there  see  that  little  Jew  girl  that  Molly  spoke  about;'  and  he 
did.  Now,  then,  a  letter  was  written.  Molly  was  told  what  to 
write.  *  Go  to  the  Wabash  Station  and  you  will  find  a  ticket  and 
come  down  to  Chicago.' 

' '  We  don 't  know  what  Molly  told  this  little  girl  when  she  was 
up  there,  Molly  knew  that  she  was  working  in  that  house,  where 
she  went  to  visit  her,  as  a  servant  girl.  The  evidence  does  not 
show  what  Molly  said.  She  might  have  said  she  was  in  a  dress- 
making establishment  in  Chicago ;  she  might  have  said,  she  was 
working  in  a  store ;  she  might  state  that  she  was  helping  as  fitter 


152  HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED 

in  a  dressmaking  establishment;  she  might  have  said  she  was 
working  in  a  hotel.  I  don't  know  what  she  said.  Any  way  the 
evidence  does  not  say  what  she  said,  but  this  girl  came  down, 
left  her  job  there  where  she  was  working  as  a  servant  girl,  never 
a  prostitute.  She  came  down  here,  was  taken  out  to  this  place 
and  hustled  into  a  house  of  prostitution  and  made  a  prostitute 
out  of  in  one  day. 

"They  ask  you  in  this  case  to  extol  virtue,  liberty  and  free- 
dom, to  wrap  the  American  flag  around  our  girls  and  say,  '  God 
bless  Liberty,'  and  then  they  forget,  they  forget  that  you  will  re- 
member that  when  an  unfortunate  girl  like  this  is  procured  by  a 
man  like  that — I  hesitate  to  call  that  a  man,  that  the  body  be- 
comes diseased,  the  mind  depraved,  a  bleeding  heart  crushed, 
and  life  becomes  the  most  degraded  thing  that  we  can  imagine. 

"Aren't  there  enough  girls  going  wrong  with  their  own  free 
will  without  going  down  into  St.  Louis  and  getting  a  poor,  hard 
working  servant  girl  and  bringing  her  down  here  and  making 
a  prostitute  out  of  her?  Aren't  there  enough,  aren't  there 
enough  bad  girls  without  calling  a  girl  who  happens  to  be  un- 
fortunate, a  prostitute  ?  And  she  is  not  a  prostitute. 

' '  Gentlemen,  this  case  will  go  down  in  the  annals  of  history ;  it 
will  go  down  in  the  annals  of  history  as  the  time  when  the  State 
had  nerve  enough  not  only  to  prosecute  first  the  procurer  who 
was  sent  out  by  the  procurer  behind  the  scene,  to  make  a  cat's 
paw  out  of  Mike  Hart  and  little  Molly  Hart,  but  also  had  nerve 
enough  to  go  behind  the  scenes  and  get  the  man  who  was  carry- 
ing on  this  business,  who  was  paying  them  for  it,  the  man  who 
was  making  money  out  of  it?  That  is  what  this  case  means, 
gentlemen.  You  are  here  sworn  to  uphold  the  law  and  you  said 
you  would;  and  we  are  here  as  representative  citizens  of  this 
city  and  of  this  community.  Are  you  going  to  let  the  people  of 
the  city  say  that  their  representatives  have  not  done  their  duty 
in  this  case  f  You  are  not  going  to  let  them  say  that  some  one 
came  in  and  confused  you  as  to  what  the  evidence  was,  when  the 
evidence  was  so  clear  that  no  one  could  doubt  that  it  was  clear 
as  the  nose  on  a  man's  face.  It  all  dovetails  together;  it  all  goes 


HOW  THE  LEADER  WAS  CONVICTED  153 

right  in  together;  and  it  was  not  shaken  for  a  minute,  because 
it  was  the  truth;  and  you  gentlemen  are  here  to  see  that  the 
morals  of  the  city  and  the  law  of  the  city  is  upheld,  and  I  know 
you  are  going  to  do  your  duty  towards  your  fellow  citizens  and 
the  people. 

1  '  This  question,  gentlemen,  is  of  great  importance  for  another 
reason,  and  that  is  this :  For  the  reason  that  this  case  goes  right 
to  the  home,  the  going  to  a  home  and  procuring  a  girl  for  a  house 
of  prostitution.  Take  away  the  home  and  what  have  you  left? 
And  here  is  a  system,  a  business  that  steals  the  daughters  from 
the  home;  we  don't  know  when  it  is  going  to  strike  the  next 
man's  home. 

"You  have  this  man  here;  he  is  not  a  victim.  He  is  making 
your  daughters  and  your  sisters  his  victims,  and  your  friends' 
sisters  and  daughters  his  victims,  and  we  must  do  our  duty 
toward  him.  We  must  find  him  guilty.  He  is  guilty.  And  yet 
we  can't  help  but  think  of  the  other  little  woman,  little  Molly, 
arrested,  in  the  House  of  Correction  because  of  the  part  in  this 
case  she  has  played,  because  of  the  toy,  the  tool  she  has  been  in 
the  hands  of  this  man  Van  Bever;  and  then  we  will  turn  this 
man,  this  bold  man,  the  man  who  has  not  got  a  drop  of  red  blood 
in  his  veins,  the  man  who  is  cold  and  heartless,  who  sits  here  be- 
fore you  and  does  not  seem  to  care  how  this  case  goes.  You  are 
going  to  turn  him  loose?  No,  you  are  not  going  to  do  it,  gentle- 
men, yon  are  not  going  to  do  it.  Find  him  guilty." 

And  as  we  have  seen  the  jury  did  find  him  guilty. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  FOR  CITY  RESORTS. 

Methods  of  procuring  girls  from  the  Country — "The  Drummer  way" — 
"Theatrical"  scheme — "The  Employment  Plan"  and  "The  Love  Game"— 
How  to  avoid  the  snares — Forewarned  is  forearmed — The  Parents'  duty. 

A  pretty  country  girl  is  marked  for  sale  in  the  large  cities  by 
white  slave  traders.  She  may  be  fresh  from  the  farm  or  living 
in  the  village  or  small  town.  To  procure  her  the  white  slave 
raders  use  the  same  methods  we  found  them  employing  to  cap- 
ture the  city  girls.  However,  as  a  rule  the  introduction  is  a  little 
more  difficult  and  more  time  is  required  to  make  the  acquaint- 
ance. 

When  a  pander  strikes  a  rural  community  he  must  work  very 
smoothly  for  generally  every  one  knows  that  a  stranger  has  ar- 
rived. He  assumes  the  role  of  a  drummer  or  a  travelling  man. 
Or  perhaps  he  leads  folks  to  believe  he  is  a  theatrical  manager 
looking  for  new  recruits.  Then  again  he  may  pretend  to  be  an 
employment  agent  bent  upon  securing  help  for  some  large  store 
or  factory.  If  he  intends  to  work  the  "love  game"  he  is  the  son 
of  a  banker  seeking  rest  and  fresh  air. 

It  was  the  love  role  that  William  Smith  played  when  he  in- 
duced a  pretty  girl,  twenty-two  years  of  age  to  run  away  with 
him.  Euth  was  delicate  'and  refolded,  with  blond  hair  and  large 
blue  eyes.  Together  they  went  to  Peoria,  Illinois,  and  there  the 
girl  was  placed  in  a  house  of  ill  fame.  First  she  was  taken  to  a 
notorious  resort  on  Eaton  Street  by  Smith.  After  she  had  been 
there  a  week  he  took  the  girl  out  of  this  house  and  put  her  in  an- 
other house  of  vice  on  North  Washington  Street. 

Officer  Brennen  learned  that  a  girl  who  appeared  new  in  the 
life  of  shame  was  in  this  resort  and  went  there  and  took  the  girl 

154 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  155 

out  and  later  arrested  Smith.  Then  the  girl  told  that  she  was 
never  in  a  house  of  ill  fame  before  she  came  to  Peoria,  and  said 
that  up  to  the  time  she  left  her  country  home  she  had  lived  with 
her  sister,  who  was  found  to  be  a  good,  respectable  woman.  Her 
sister  was  sent  for,  and  a  charge  of  pandering  was  lodged 
against  her  procurer. 

Thus  the  love  game  is  played  by  the  astute  and  crafty  pro- 
curer who  seeks  to  lead  the  unsuspecting  country  girl  to  the 
bottomless  pit  where  she  goes  down  and  down,  writhing  in  a  liv- 
ing death. 

Perhaps  some  of  these  girls  are  wayward  and  crave  the  bright 
lights  and  the  gay  times  of  city  life.  Yes,  some  of  them  run  away 
just  for  pure,  unadulterated  deviltry,  and  to  have  a  good  time 
as  they  call  it,  only  to  find  the  good  time  a  sham  and  tinseled 
show,  and  they  find  too  late  it  all  leads  to  the  place  from  which 
they  will  never  return. 

Most  of  these  girls,  however,  as  good  as  the  average,  are 
just  a  little  silly,  just  a  little  flirtatious,  and  just  a  little  romantic. 
They  have  heard  of  love  at  first  sight,  and  they  think  they  are 
a  trifle  smarter  than  the  other  girls  when  they  pick  up  a  chance 
acquaintance  with  a  strange  visitor  in  town.  He  tells  them  of 
the  city  and  its  advantages.  He  promises  to  take  them  from  the 
dull,  monotonous  humdrum  of  the  rural  life  to  the  surging 
crowds  and  ever  changing  scenes  of  the  city. 

No,  the  picture  he  paints  does  not  show  the  tired,  languid 
girls  of  the  city,  wearily  wending  their  way  homeward  from  the 
clay's  work.  Nor  does  he  illustrate  them  hurrying  to  catch  the 
car  or  the  elevated  train  in  the  morning,  the  crowding  and  jost- 
ling of  the  men  and  women  struggling  to  find  a  vacant  seat  as 
they  ride  to  the  center  of  din  and  noise ;  the  pulling,  jerking  and 
hauling  to  be  the  first  one  out  of  the  car;  and  the  rush  down 
tlie  busy  streets.  At  noon  a  quick  lunch  in  a  cheap  dyspepsia 
factory,  and  then  the  grinding  routine  of  the  afternoon.  Night, 
yes  night  comes  on  with  its  round  of  fancied  pleasures;  its 
shallow  cheap  amusements ;  its  thick,  stuffy  air ;  its  glare  of  lights 
that  bewilder  the  innocent  and  make  the  imitation  look  real. 


156  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

Yes,  little  girl,  much  is  mock  pomp,  false  show,  and  imitation 
grandeur,  and  little  of  it  is  real  and  genuine. 

Stay  rather  at  home  where  all  is  pure,  beautiful  and  really 
grand,  for  no  artisan  can  build  forests  and  mountains  like  the 
great  Creator  has  given  you;  no  artist  can  paint  the  growing 
grain  and  the  flowers  as  beautiful  as  He.  The  crowded  smelling 
car  can  not  supplant  the  good  old  horses  and  carriage.  Nor 
is  love  so  sweet  in  the  gilded  drawing  room  as  in  the  winding 
shady  lane  where  the  moon  mellows  the  heart  and  fills  the  soul 
with  joy. 

GIRLS,  BEWARE  OF  NEW  MADE  FRIENDS. 

When  a  new  made  friend  begins  to  tell  h.ow  right  in  the  very 
beginning  he  fell  in  love,  it  is  well  to  be  on  guard.  No  girl 
should  promise  to  marry  a  young  man  until  she  knows  something 
positive  and  definite  about  him.  If  he  says  he  is  of  good  family, 
has  an  excellent  position,  and  is  an  honorable  man,  let  her  make 
sure  of  his  statements  before  she  leaps.  The  newspapers  are 
filled  with  tales  of  romantic  elopements,  magazine  stories  and 
novels  tell  of  the  enchantment  of  love  at  first  sight,  but  let  these 
elopements  and  enchantments,  if  they  must  be,  find  their  Eomeos 
in  youths  who  are  well  known  and  whose  honor  and  intention  is 
certain. 

If  Helen  -  — ,  a  girl  from  the  East  Central  part  of  Illinois 

had  only  taken  more  time  to  find  out  who  one  William 

was,  and  what  really  was  his  business,  she  might  not  have  been 
duped  so  easily.  He  maneuvered  around  until  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Helen.  Then  the  love  ointment  was  thickly  ap- 
plied, and  this  foolish  girl  thought  it  was  romantic  love.  She 
promised  to  give  her  heart  to  him  in  marriage,  and  secretly  they 
left  town  to  be  married  in  the  city.  "How  surprised  the  folks 
at  home  will  be  when  they  hear  that  I  have  eloped  to  Springfield, 
and  am  happily  married,"  she  thought. 

Well,  folks,  you  can  be  surprised  ,when  you  hear  of  an  elope- 
ment with  a  one  or  two  days'  acquaintance  ending  happily. 

William  persuaded  Helen  to  accompany  him  to  Springfield 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  157 

by  promising  to  marry  her  upon  their  arrival  in  that  city. 
They  arrived,  she  breathless  with  excitement,  he  nervous  lest 
he  might  get  caught.  As  usual  he  hired  a  carriage  to  take  them, 
supposedly  to  the  minister's  house,  and  when  they  arrived  there 
a  maid  showed  them  to  an  inner  room.  Oh !  what  fine  furniture, 
thought  Helen,  this  minister  in  the  city  has  in  his  home.  Bed 
plush  chairs  and  sofa  were  there.  Glaring  red  rugs  were  on  the 
floor,  and  bright  red  curtains  hung  at  the  windows.  Even  the 
light-shades  were  red  which  reflected  a  somber  glow  through 
the  room.  All  this  red,  Helen  soon  found,  typefied  blood  of  vic- 
tims sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  lust  and  sin. 

Yes  the  pure  red  blood  was  congealed  in  this  girl 's  veins  when 
she  realized  that  she  was  but  another  victim  for  the  sacrifice. 
Coolly  and  calmly  her  supposed  lover  informed  her  that  his 
promise  to  marry  her  was  all  a  joke,  and  that  instead  of  this 
place  being  the  home  of  the  minister,  it  was  a  house  of  shame  run 
by  one  Mabel  H . 

Imagine  this  girl,  her  cheeks  aglow  with  happiness,  and  her 
heart  throbbing  in  expectation  of  the  marriage  ceremony,  sud- 
denly confronted  with  the  cold  fact  that  she  was  deceived  by  a 
traitor  with  a  heart  blacker  than  coal  and  harder  than  stone. 
Imagine  the  sickly  grin  on  this  fellow 's  countenance  as  he  gloated 
over  the  victim  that  he  betrayed  by  smoothly  and  easily  winning 
her  love. 

For  an  interval  she  was  stunned.  Gradually  the  truth  dawned 
upon  Helen.  Her  dream  of  a  romantic  courtship  suddenly  van- 
ished, and  she  awakened  to  find  herself  a  helpless,  gullible  fool, 
tricked  by  a  scheme,  duped  by  his  flattery  and  misled  by  his 
protestations  of  love. 

Three  weeks  passed  by  before  she  was  rescued  from  this  house 
of  sin,  and  all  this  while  she  was  an  inmate,  compelled  to  live  as 
did  the  other  inmates.  William  was  living  off  the  proceeds  of 
her  shame.  Her  rescue  brought  about  his  arrest  by  Officer 
George  Pehlmann.  On  April  25,  1910,  William  was  tried  before 
Justice  Clark  B.  Shipp  upon  the  charge  of  pandering,  and  bound 


158  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

over  to  the  Grand  Jury  in  the  sum  of  One  Thousand  Dollars, 
and  in  default  of  giving  bond  he  was  sent  to  the  county  jail. 

The  following  day,  in  the  same  city,  Irene  Bradley  entered  a 
plea  of  guilty  to  a  charge  of  pandering,  refuting  the  drawling 
editorials  of  some  self-satisfied  sleepy  writers  who  say  that 
there  are  only  ' i  a  few.  isolated  cases  of  white  slavery, ' '  and  that 
the  traffic  in  girls  only  represents  "sporadic  instances  of  the 
barter  and  sale  of  white  female  slaves."  These  editors  little 
realize  the  great  toll  that  is  being  collected  every  day  upon  girls 
as  they  pass  through  the  gates  that  lead  to  ruin. 

Irene  Bradley  conducted  a  resort  in  Springfield.  To  this 
place  is  was  alleged  that  Fred  Peters,  also  charged  with  pander- 
ing, brought  two  young  girls  named  Ruth  and  Maude.  First  it 
was  thought  that  these  girls  were  under  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  and  upon  that  information  the  Bradley  woman  was 
charged  with  harboring  girls  under  the  legal  age  in  a  house  of  ill 
fame.  But  this  charge  was  dismissed  when  she  entered  a  plea  of 
guilty  to  pandering.  She  was  sentenced  to  jail  for  six  months 
and  fined  three  hundred  dollars  and  costs,  the  minimum  under 
the  law,  by  Judge  Murray. 

The  decision  to  reduce  the  charge  was  taken  by  State's  At- 
torney Burke  after  he  learned  the  two  girls  who  were  alleged  to 
have  been  kept  in  the  resort  by  the  Bradley  woman,  both  claimed 
that  they  were  eighteen  years  old  when  they  were  taken  to  the 
house  of  shame. 

Another  case  might  be  related  which  is  discordant  with  an 
editorial  printed  Friday,  January  14,  1910,  in  a  certain  Fort 
Smith,  Arkansas  paper,  which  belittled  the  idea  of  a  traffic  in 
girls  and  the  efforts  sincerely  and  honestly  made  to  fight  this 
obnoxious  business.  The  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas,  Times  of  Sep- 
tember first,  1910,  gives  the  following  account  of  this  case : 

"The  preliminary  hearing  of  Pete  Morris,  the  first  arrest 
made  in  the  Southwest  on  a  charge  of  violating  the  national 
white  slave  law,  began  before  Commissioner  Wood  Wednesday 
afternoon  and  after  the  taking  of  the  testimony  of  three  wit- 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  159 

nesses  the  case  was  continued  until  next  Wednesday.  Both 
sides  expect  to  have  a  number  of  witnesses  here  at  that  time. 

"Morris  is  accused  of  bringing  Miss  Marie  ,  only  15 

years  of  age,  although  she  is  a  married  woman,  from  Illinois 
Station  to  this  city  for  immoral  purposes.  The  girl  told  the 
third  different  story  of  the  affair  that  she  has  told  under  oath, 
and  it  has  a  far  more  reasonable  sound  than  the  others.  She 
said  she  met  Morris  the  day  before  he  brought  her  to  this  city, 
and  that  he  told  her  he  could  get  her  a  good  home.  He  didn't 
have  the  money  to  get  the  ticket  and  suggested  they  come  to 
Fort  Smith,  and  go  from  here.  They  arrived  here  on  the  mid- 
night train  and  wandered  out  to  Joe  Plant's  house  where  they 
spent  the  night.  The  next  morning  Morris  took  her  to  Ethel 
Jones'  house.  Ethel  Jones  was  in  jail  and  Lee  Scoville  and 
Birdie  Snow  had  taken  possession.  A  lot  of  beer  and  alcohol 
was  brought  to  the  house  and  Birdie  Snow  poured  out  about 
half  a  bottle  of  beer,  refilled  the  bottle  with  alcohol 
and  while  Marie  was  in  a  drunken  stupor  she  was 
pulled  from  the  bed  and  assaulted.  Her  suit  case  was 
also  taken,  later  being  found  under  the  house  with  part  of  her 
clothing  missing.  The  girl  claims  $15.00  was  also  taken  from 
her  while  she  was  drunk. 

"When  Morris  was  arraigned  in  the  police  court,  the  girl 
told  a  Svengalized  story  of  meeting  Morris  only  an  hour  or  so 
before  train  time  and  of  doing  everything  he  told  her  to  do,  al- 
though she  did  not  even  know  his  name." 

Also  in  September  of  the  same  year  a  woman  of  the  under- 
world known  as  '  i  Big  George ' '  and  a  former  mistress  of  a  resort 
was  arrested  in  St.  Marys,  Ohio,  and  accused  of  enticing  little 

fourteen  year  old  Ethel  S from  the  country.  Regular 

"white  slave"  tactics  were  used  by  this  woman  procuress  for 
she  told  the  girl  that  she  had  a  position  for  her  in  a  restaurant 
in  Indiana.  This  arrest  is  given  as  an  introduction  into  the 
schemes  the  panders  use  in  procuring  poor  girls  from  the  coun- 
try upon  the  pretense  of  securing  work  for  them  in  the  city. 


160  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

A,  WARNING  TO  PARENTS. 

Parents  are  too  lax  often  about  sending  their  daughters  to 
cities  to  obtain  employment.  If  a  stranger  comes  around  on 
the  errand  of  getting  female  help  and  says  he  is  an  employment 
agent  or  the  manager  of  a  factory  or  hotel  be  sure  to  know  au- 
thoritatively who  he  is  and  where  he  hails  from  before  you  send 
your  daughter  away  with  him  to  the  city. 

Father  and  mother,  at  least  take  this  much  interest  in  the 
future  welfare  of  your  daughter.  Should  she  go  from  you  to 
obtain  a  position  in  some  city,  at  least  take  the  trouble  to  know 
with  whom  she  goes  away,  if  some  one  comes  for  her ;  ascertain 
for  whom  she  is  working  and  where  she  is  working,  and  living. 
Write  to  the  pastor  of  your  denomination  or  the  priest  of  your 
church  belief  in  the  city  to  look  her  up  and  take  a  friendly  in- 
terest in  her.  These  good  men  will  gladly  help  you  to  guard  your 
daughters  against  the  pitfalls  of  a  large  city. 

If  one  father  and  mother  had  done  this  much  for  their  two 
daughters  these  girls  would  have  been  spared  the  infamy  and 
shame  of  tasting  the  evil  fruit  of  immorality,  and  they  would  not 
have  returned  home  broken-hearted.  In  the  summer  of  1908 
two  girls  went  to  Chicago  from  a  rural  home  to  obtain  work. 

One  evening  from  the  general  delivery  window  of  the  post 
office  one  of  the  same  girls  turned  away  crying  when  she  found 
that  there  was  no  mail  for  them  there.  Now  it  happened  that  a 
procurer,  ever  on  the  watch  for  new  victims,  was  standing  near 
these  girls  and  observed  that  one  was  crying.  Although  the 
post  office  authorities  are  on  the  alert,  and  doing  everything  pos- 
sible to  prevent  panders  loitering  around  the  corridors  of  the 
post  office  where  the  general  delivery  windows  are  located,  it  is 
difficult  to  detect  these  procurers  every  time. 

"  You  seem  to  be  in  trouble,  little  girl,"  said  the  procurer  as  he 
stepped  up  to  her. 

The  girl  craving  sympathy  said: 

"Yes,  I  am.  My  sister  and  I  came  up  here  to  Chicago  three 
weeks  ago  to  find  work  and  we  have  looked  and  looked,  and  we 
haven 't  any  place  yet.  We  have  written  several  letters  home  for 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  161 

money,  but  we  haven't  heard  a  word  from  pur  people.  Here 
we  are  out  of  money,  with  no  friends,  and  we  don't  know  what 
we  're  going  to  do. ' ' 

4 'Well,  well,  is  that  all  that's  ailing  you?  That's  too  bad. 
Why,  you  don't  know  where  to  look  for  work.  There's  lots  of 
it  flying  around  loose  here.  Just  come  with  me,  and  I  '11  get  you 
a  job  right  away." 

Poor  girls,  forgotten  by  the  father  back  home  who  was  per- 
haps too  busy  with  his  horses,  his  cattle  or  his  sheep  to  bother 
about  writing  to  the  girls  up  in  Chicago,  were  that  very  night 
taken  by  this  pander  to  the  west  side  of  Chicago,  and  sold  into 
an  immoral  resort  managed  by  Annie  Plummer. 

After  the  girls  were  safely  disposed  of  and  lie  got  his  money 
for  them  the  pander  skipped  to  New  York  with*  a  fellow  pro- 
curer. By  means  of  a  fund  provided  by  the  Union  League  Club 
of  Chicago,  through  Mr.  David  B.  Lyman,  Jr.,  its  representative 
upon  the  Joint  Club  Committee  For  the  Suppression  of  White 
Slavery  in  Chicago,  of  which  we  shall  hear  more  later,  and  also 
by  means  of  other  money  contributed  by  Captain  Eehm  and 
some  of  his  fellow  police  officers,  detectives  were  sent  to  New 
York  and  after  obtaining  extradition  papers,  this  pander  was 
brought  back  to  Chicago  and  prosecuted.  The  arrest  of  the 
Plummers  who  bought  these  girls  and  who  escaped  conviction 
because  of  the  leniency  shown  them  by  a  high  police  official  is 
notorious  and  this  official  is  now  in  the  penitentiary  at  Joliet, 
Illinois,  for  his  alleged  part  in  protecting  them. 

While  hundreds  of  similar  cases  mig"ht  be  related  only  those 
cases  are  set  forth  here  which  typify  the  methods  used  by  pan- 
ders and  explain  the  reasons  why  so  many  country  girls  are 
procured  for  city  resorts. 

THE  MELTING  POT. 

The  city  is  a  great  crucible  into  which  girls  from  all  localities 
and  nationalities  are  thrown,  to  be  melted  up  and  then  moulded 

into  one  of  the  types  which  represents  the  city.     The  sad  part  of 

11 


162  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

it  all  is  the  fact  that  so  many  rush  headlong  into  the  wrong  melt- 
ing pot,  and  are  hardened  in  the  mould  which  leaves  painted 
faces,  diseased  bodies  and  souls  ashamed  of  decent  people.  This 
hardening  process  varies.  It  depends  upon  the  girls  and  cir- 
cumstances of  their  procurement.  Sometimes  they  become  hard- 
ened in  a  few  days,  and  then  again  many  months  elapse  before 
they  are  considered  sufficiently  hardened. 

Two  girls  going  through  this  melting  process  were  rescued 
from  one  of  the  blackest  pots  in  the  City  of  Chicago  on  Decem- 
ber twenty-ninth,  1909.  The  slave  owners  had  not  become  sat- 
isfied that  their  victims  could  be  trusted  so  these  girls  were  held 
in  close  confinement  in  a  red  light  district  resort.  Have  you 
noticed  in  this  book  the  picture  of  Richard  Dorsey?  Well,  he 
was  one  of  the  fellows  that  brought  these  two  girls  to  Chicago 
for  the  White  Slave  market.  In  the  picture  he  does  not  look 
very  much  dressed  up  for  he  is  without  collar  and  minus  a  tie. 
He  could  not  help  that  though  for  the  picture  was  taken  in  the 
rogue 's  gallery,  and  they  are  not  particular  there  about  the  looks 
and  dress  of  their  customers. 

The  girls  Ellen  W and  Euby  0 ,  each  eighteen  years 

old,  became  acquainted  over  in  Michigan  with  two  young  men 
from  Chicago.  These  same  young  men  were  looking  for  girls 
to  work  in  one  of  Chicago's  large  department  stores,  and  it  was 
suggested  to  the  girls  that  they  might  be  interested  in  going 
to  the  city  to  work,  or  might  know  of  some  of  their  friends  who 
would  want  good  positions. 

"Here  is  a  good  chance  for  us,"  said  one  girl  to  the  other. 
They  talked  the  matter  over  with  their  parents,  and  decided  to 
leave  their  homes  and  cast  their  fortunes  in  a  great  city  as  sales- 
ladies in  a  large  store. 

HOW  COUNTRY  GIRLS  ARE  SECURED. 

Chicago  detectives  investigating  the  white  slave  traffic  claim 
that  the  small  towns  and  villages  afford  the  most  lucrative  fields 
for  men  and  women  engaged  in  the  business  of  pandering  girls. 
Under  the  pretext  of  securing  young  girls  and  women  for  high 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  163 

salaried  positions  in  stores  and  offices,  those  engaged  in  the 
traffic  induce  their  victims  to  leave  good  country  homes  and 
when  they  have  landed  the  girls  in  the  city,  these  girls  are  at  their 
mercy,  and  become  easy  prey  for  the  crafty  hunters  who  supply 
the  demand  for  prostitutes. 

So  Ellen  and  Euby  were  sold  by  their  "  would-be  store  em- 
ployers ' '  into  a  house  of  vice.  Their  captors  collected  the  price 
of  the  sale,  and  set  out  for  more  victims. 

Chicago  has  been  waging  a  vigorous  warfare  on  this  white 
slave  traffic  for  several  years,  and  therefore  in  a  raid  the  girls 
were  taken  out  and  their  procurers,  Richard  Dorsey  and  Andrew 
Lietke  were  arrested  later. 

A  few  days  after  this  raid,  on  the  fifth  day  of  January,  1910, 
two  more  slave  traders  were  put  on  trial,  two  more  cases  were 
argued,  two  more  girls  were  sent  back  home,  and  two  more  deal- 
ers in  women,  Richard  Dorsey  and  Andrew  Lietke,  were  sent  to 
prison  to  join  the  panders'  colony  there. 

"The  sentence, "  said  Judge  John  R.  Newcomer,  "you  are  to 
receive  is  perhaps  too  light,  but  now  you  admit  your  guilt  in 
open  court  so  I  shall  send  you  both  to  the  House  of  Correction 
for  six  months  and  fine  each  of  you  Three  Hundred  Dollars  and 
costs. " 

The  fines  were  never  paid  so  these  fellows  had  to  work  them 
out  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  and  a  half  a  day,  which  meant  al- 
together, imprisonment  for  over  one  year. 

The  same  methods  are  used  throughout  the  whole  country  as 
was  proved  when  William  Joyce,  the  leader  of  a  gang  of  pro- 
curers that  had  been  preying  upon  young  girls  in  Oklahoma,  was 
apprehended  by  Secret  Service  Officer  Clark  in  May,  1910,  Joyce 
had  in  his  possession  letters  to  indicate  that  he  was  engaged  in 
the  business  of  securing  girls  for  immoral  purposes  for  resorts 
in  cities  all  over  the  country. 

He  had  been  under  surveillance  for  more  than  two  weeks.  He 
was  discovered  talking  to  Flora  Me  L — ,  a  sixteen  year  old  girl 
of  Kent,  Oklahoma,  who  was  at  the  Rock  Island  depot  standing 


164  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

waiting  for  a  train  to  take  her  to  Mangum  where  she  was  to  visit 
her  uncle. 

Joyce  represented  that  she  had  missed  her  train  and  said  that 
another  would  not  be  due  until  the  next  morning.  He  persuaded 
her  to  go  to  a  room  in  order  to  rest. 

He  accompanied  her  to  the  Windsor  Hotel,  but  they  were  re- 
fused a  room.  He  then  took  her  to  a  place  on  North  Hudson 
Street  where  he  roomed  and  introduced  her.  In  a  few  minutes 
she  escaped  from  the  house,  and  hurrying  along  the  tracks  when 
Officer  Clark  found  her.  She  said  she  was  lost  and  was  looking 
for  the  depot,  and  also  confided  to  the  officer  her  experience  with 
Joyce.  A  search  was  made  and  Joyce  was  located  and  arrested. 

It  was  later  learned  that  Joyce  was  a  member  of  a  gang  that 
had  been  supplying  girls  to  the  road  houses  of  Oklahoma  City 
and  to  other  cities  of  the  country  for  months.  He  made  a 
specialty  of  hanging  around  picture  shows  and  depots,  and  when 
he  saw  a  young  girl  alone  he  immediately  forced  himself  upon 
her.  He  dressed  well  and  had  a  certain  apparent  polish  of  man- 
ner which  impressed  inexperienced  girls  deeply.  After  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  his  victim  Joyce  would,  as  a  rule,  buy  a  bottle 
of  wine  or  two,  take  the  girl  for  a  ride,  and  later  when  she  awoke, 
she  would  find  herself  ruined  for  life,  and  Joyce  was  ready  to  go 
seeking  another  victim. 

The  girl,  strikingly  beautiful  and  intelligent,  did  not  realize 
what  his  intentions  were  until  Joyce  had  taken  her  to  the  Hud- 
son Street  House  and  then  suddenly  she  divined  his  scheme,  and 
foiled  his  game. 

HOW  HILDA  WAS  CAUGHT  IN  THE  NET. 

Just  as  beautiful  and  just  as  demure  and  sweet  was  Hilda 
E ,  but  not  just  as  fortunate  as  Flora  was  this  little  seven- 
teen year  old  blonde  girl  from  Sheffield,  Illinois.  Flora  knew, 
when  it  was  almost  too  late,  that  she  was  in  the  net  of  a  pander, 
and  she  heeded  the  warning  which  the  experiences  of  other  girls, 
of  which  she  had  read,  gave  her,  and  slipped  out  of  the  clutches 
of  her  captor.  But  Hilda,  only  in  America  four  years,  had  not 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  165 

read  of  these  white  slave  traders,  and  therefore,  she  was  not 
favored  by  the  good  fortune  which  blessed  Flora. 

Hilda  came  from  Denmark  and  went  to  live  with  her  Uncle's 
family  in  Sheffield,  and  there  she  remained  happy  and  contented 
until  the  summer  of  1910.  It  was  in  the  month  of  July  that  her 
Uncle  said  to  her : 

"Now  Hilda,  you  are  getting  to  be  a  pretty  big  girl,  and  I 
haven 't  sufficient  work  for  you  around  here,  so  I  think  you  ought 
to  soon  be  looking  out  for  yourself. " 

So  Hilda,  still  almost  a  child,  at  least  in  appearance  and  ac- 
tions, felt  compelled  to  start  out  for  herself  in  the  world.  To 
find  work  she  thought  she  must  go  away  to  some  city. 

How  many  girls  are  thrust  out  of  a  good  home  as  was  Hilda — 
thousands  of  them,  and  why?  Just  because  parents,  relatives, 
or  guardians  are  either  too  poor  to  support  them,  or  too  stingy  to 
keep  them.  In  most  cases  it  is  the  latter  reason.  The  girl  is  eat- 
ing more  than  she  ought  to  eat,  or  it  is  costing  more  to  dress 
her  than  is  necessary,  and  bang  out  she  goes.  Or  again  she  is 
sent  away  to  earn  money  to  send  home  so  that  the  father  or 
uncle  can  line  his  pockets  with  more  golden  dollars,  or  more 
money  being  thus  crowded  into  the  family  coffers. 

So,  like  many  another  girl  thrust  out  in  the  world  to  earn  her 
own  living,  Hilda  went  to  Chicago,  and  she  went  alone.  The  ques- 
tion had  presented  itself  as  to  where  she  should  go  to  be  free 
from  harm  when  she  arrived  in  the  big  city.  She  had  heard  of 
the  Danish  Home,  so  hither  instinct  led  her  to  the  bosom  of  kind 
people  from  her  Mother  Country.  This  Home  soon  obtained  a 
good  position  for  the  girl  at  a  Mrs.  Smith's. 

Five  months  passed  by  and  nothing  of  special  moment  hap- 
pened for  Hilda.  There  was  the  routine  of  the  usual  household 
duties,  a  visit  now  and  then  to  her  few  Danish  friends  at  the 
home,  and  that  was  about  all.  Scarcely  ever  did  she  go  out  of 
the  house,  and  never  in  the  evening. 

One  day  she  heard  the  people  where  she  lived  telling  about 
a  grand  street  carnival  with  all  sorts  of  amusements  and  fun. 
This  carnival  was  held  on  West  Madison  Street  in  the  fall,  and 


166  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

was  a  carnival  of  crime  as  well  as  pleasure.  Pickpockets  and 
sneak  thieves,  fakirs  and  confidence  men  were  all  out  in  full 
force  and  mingling  in  the  throng  were  the  girl  catchers  and  pro- 
curers. 

Panders  do  not  always  work  singly,  quite  often  in  fact  they 
work  in  doubles,  and  sometimes  three  and  four  are  brought  into 
the  game  if  the  quarry  is  hard  to  catch. 

The  intricacies  of  the  white  slave  business  seem  almost  un- 
fathomable. When  one  thinks  he  has  learned  their  many  wiles 
and  insidious  artifices  he  finds  to  his  surprise  they  have  invented 
a  new  way  to  catch  their  game  and  they,  and  their  methods  seem 
endless. 

Hilda  quite  alone  ventured  a  little  way  one  evening  down  this 
merry  street,  ablaze  with  lights,  deafening  with  noise,  and  bub- 
bling with  fun  and  laughter.  Soon  the  spirit  of  the  carnival  week 
caught  hold  of  this  strange  Danish  lassie.  Every  one  seemed  to 
know,  and  speak  to  every  one  else,  so  Hilda  was  not  at  all  sur- 
prised when  a  young  looking  woman  addressed  her  and  called 
out: 

'  '  Hello,  Kid,  come  in  and  have  some  soda  water. " 

To  Hilda  this  was  new  and  agreeable  hospitality,  and  soon 
this  young  woman  made  Hilda  feel  as  though  she  was  an  old 
friend.  Before  they  parted  that  evening  Hilda  had  promised 
her  new  found  acquaintance,  who  was  none  other  than  Jessie 
Frazier,  that  she  would  go  to  a  dance  some  night  with  her.  Jes- 
sie had  easily  learned  where  Hilda  was  employed,  and  a  certain 
evening  was  agreed  upon. 

To  the  dance  they  went,  and  the  hours  passed  so  quickly  that 
soon  it  was  too  late  to  go  home.  Of  course,  Jessie  would  take 
Hilda  right  along  home  with  her,  and  the  unsuspecting  girl 
went  along.  But  they  did  not  go  home.  As  they  were  return- 
ing from  the  dance  the  Frazier  woman  suggested  stopping  at  a 
restaurant  and  getting  something  to  eat,  and  acting  upon  this 
suggestion  they  went  into  a  Greek  restaurant.  Ignorant  that 
two  black  eyes  were  intently  watching  and  observing  her,  the 
girl  ate  and  laughed  and  talked. 


PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS  167 

THE  WHITE  SLAVE  TRADER  UPON  THE  SCENE. 

Now  entered  the  heavy  villain  upon  the  stage  of  this  white 
slave  drama.  The  man  who  was  intently  watching  was  Harry 
Jocker,  and  finally  he  leisurely  sauntered  over  to  the  table 
where  the  Frazier  woman  and  Hilda  were  seated. 

"Why,  how  do  you  do  Harry, "  said  Jessie,  appearing  to  be 
surprised  to  see  him.  "I  want  you  to  know  my  little  friend, 
Hilda. " 

Then  Jessie  Frazier  confided  to  Hilda  that  Harry  Jocker  was 
a  theatrical  agent  and  could  give  her  a  fine  position  as  a  chorus 
girl  and  splendid  wages  too. 

"I  wouldn't  work  around  anybody's  house  if  I  were  in  your 
place  if  you  can  get  a  good  position  somewhere  at  better  pay," 
continued  Jessie  Frazier. 

Jocker  sat  down  at  the  table  with  them,  and  after  more  con- 
versation and  more  flattery  Hilda  was  won.  Jocker  told  the 
girl  that  just  one  more  girl  was  needed  to  fill  up  the  chorus, 
and  she  was  so  pretty  she  would  have  no  trouble  getting  the 
place.  Yes,  it  happened  that  there  was  to  be  an  early  morning 
rehearsal  that  very  morning. 

"I'll  take  you  to  see  the  woman  who  is  engaging  the  girls 
right  now,  if  you  want  me  to,  said  Jocker. 

The  tired  girl,  weary  from  missing  her  accustomed  sleep  had 
completely  lost  her  head,  and  she  thought  her  heart  too.  Jessie 
now  perceived  that  Jocker  had  "made  good,"  as  they  put  it, 
so  she  bade  her  guest  of  the  night  good-bye,  and  left  her  with 
the  hope  that  she  would  like  her  new  position,  and  that  they 
soon  would  see  each  other  again. 

The  hardships  that  Hilda  passed  through  in  the  fiendish 
hands  of  Jocker  and  his  fellow  libertines  is  not  describable  here. 
What  this  girl,  fair  and  sweet,  suffered  is  best  to  be  imagined. 
At  last  the  inevitable  happened,  she  found  herself  a  subject  of 
barter  and  sale  in  Nellie  S—  -  resort  on  the  west  side  of  Chi- 
cago. She  received  the  usual  instructions  from  Jocker,  as  to 
what  she  must  tell  the  police,  and  visitors  when  they  came  to 
the  place. 


168  PROCURING  COUNTRY  GIRLS 

Madam  Nellie  decided  that  the  girl  looked  so  young  that  she 
had  better  keep  her  in  the  background  for  a  while.  Detectives 
Bowler  and  Cullett  hearing  that  a  young  ^  girl  had  been  taken 
to  this  resort  went  there,  and  brought  the  girl  to  the  police 
station,  and  there  she  was  questioned  by  the  writer.  Slowly 
and  disconnectedly  she  related  her  experiences,  amid  sobs  and 
shudders.  The  good  women  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  League 
were  called  into  council.  Mrs.  Smith  came  and  volunteered 
her  aid.  The  girl's  sad  tale  was  corroborated  in  every  partic- 
ular. 

Harry  Jocker  was  arrested  as  was  also  Jessie  Frazier,  and 
Nellie  S—  -  turned  State's  witness. 

On  the  morning  of  December  29th,  1910,  before  Judge  Isa- 
dore  Himes,  at  the  Desplaines  Street  court,  Harry  Jocker  was 
tried  for  pandering.  His  able  lawyer,  one  of  the  best  in  Chi- 
cago, labored  hard  to  free  his  client,  but  after  the  evidence  was 
heard,  and  the  lawyer's  arguments  were  finished,  the  Judge  de- 
cided that  this  was  a  flagrant  case  of  white  slavery,  and  Jocker 
was  sentenced  according  to  the  law. 

The  Judge  found  also  that  Jessie  Frazier  was  guilty  of  aiding 
and  abetting  the  crime,  and  she  too  was  sentenced. 

The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  took  Hilda  under  their 
protection  and  care. 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  horrible  cases  in  the  annals  of 
white  slavery  where  a  country  girl  was  lured  to  ruin,  seduced 
from  virtue,  and  sold  into  a  life  of  lust. 


CHAPTER  XL 

LARGE  CITIES  ARE  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS. 

"The  White  Slave  Market" — Girls  for  sale  body  and  soul— The  question  of 
supply  and  demand — Many  are  slaved  by  conditions  which  surround 
them— The  price— Facts  about  the  White  Slave  Market. 

When  girls  are  brought  from  the  country  to  the  cities,  or  are 
taken  from  one  city  to  another  they  are  sold  in  the  white  slave 
market.  Most  large  cities  are  in  fact  market  places  where  girls 
are  sold  and  bought.  By  market  it  is  not  meant  that  there  are 
public  places  out  in  the  streets  where  girls  are  sold  as  human 
chattels.  Neither  is  there  an  open  meeting  together  of  people, 
at  a  stated  time  and  place,  for  the  purpose  of  traffic  in  girls  by 
private  purchase  and  sale. 

However,  if  we  give  to  the  word  "market"  its  other  meanings* 
an  opportunity  for  selling  anything;  demand;  traffic;  and  ex- 
change or  purchase  and  sale,  then  it  can  truthfully  be  said  that 
in  the  city  there  is  a  white  slave  market.  In  fact  the  white  slave 
market  is  a  question  of  supply  and  demand.  There  are  various 
social  and  economic  reasons  for  this  demand  and  in  response  to 
this  demand  has  come  the  opportunity  for  selling  our  daughters 
body  and  soul. 

The  white  slave  market  of  today  is  the  traffic  in  girls  for  im- 
moral purposes.  They  are  sold  into  disreputable  lives  with  or 
without  their  consent  and  they  are  held  slaves  by  the  conditions 
which  surround  them. 

These  conditions  range  from  forcible  detention  to  ingenious 
deception  with  discouragement,  shame  and  disease  as  inter- 
mediary stages. 

However,  all  the  unfortunates  and  outcasts  of  society  living  in 
either  palaces  or  dens  of  vice  are  not  slaves.  Neither  are  all 

169 


170  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

these  immoral  inmates  bought  and  sold  at  the  inception  of  their 
degrading  careers.  But  many  are  marketed  by  dealers  in  vice. 
How  many?  No  one  can  answer  except  he  hazard  a  guess.  Here 
the  scale  which  balances  on  one  side  supply  and  on  the  other  de- 
mand again  comes  into  use.  If  it  could  be  determined  just  how 
many  poor  creatures  of  circumstance  or  unbridled  passion  seek 
dissolute  lives  of  their  own  free  will,  then  it  could  be  told  whether 
those  who  wantonly  made  up  the  supply  were  equal  to  the  de- 
mand. However,  as  to  this  it  is  difficult,  if  not  quite  impossible, 
to  obtain  figures.  Therefore  one  must  be  content  to  know  that 
evidently  the  voluntary  supply  is  not  sufficient  to  meet  the  de- 
mand because  the  newspapers  and  court  records  for  several 
years  past  tell  of  the  vast  number  that  are  tricked  and  enveigled 
into  disreputable  resorts.  Hundreds  and  hundreds  of  instances 
can  be  had  for  the  asking  of  where  money,  and  sometimes  large 
amounts,  has  been  paid  for  the  procurement  and  sale  of  girls  for 
immoral  purposes. 

It  behooves  one  to  deal  not  with  fanciful  figures  but  rather 
with  facts  as  one  finds  them  in  studying  the  white  slave  market. 

That  has  been  the  aim  of  the  writer  in  the  feeble  efforts  he 
has  put  forth  to  make  known  and  combat  the  traffic  in  girls. 
Steadfastly  he  has  refused  to  discuss  numbers  and  thereby 
jeopardize  the  cause  for  which  he  has  given  the  best  years  of 
his  life  by  conjecture  and  suppositions.  In  giving  statistics, 
figures  and  proportions,  if  they  must  be  stated,  it  is  better  that 
these  should  be  understated  than  overestimated,  for  only  by 
conservative  and  sane  statements  will  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  be  aroused  to  the  enormity  of  this  atrocious  traffic.  The 
whole  question  of  white  slavery  is  far  too  large  to  comprehend 
and  estimate  to  a  nicety  in  the  short  time  that  it  has  been 
given  careful  consideration. 

WHITE  SLAVERY  FURNISHES  FIFTY  PER  CENT. 

There  are  in  most  large  cities  thousands  of  women  leading 
lives  of  shame.  The  proportion  is  about  the  same,  especially 
in  cities  with  over  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  The  proportion 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  171 

of  girls  procured  for  the  cities'  white  slave  markets  varies 
probably  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  prostitutes  in  each 
city.  A  conservative  estimate,  perhaps,  would  put  the  number 
of  those  procured  and  exploited  for  immoral  houses  and  apart- 
ments at  fifty  per  cent  of  the  total  number  leading  lives  of  vice, 
or  in  other  words  about  one  half  are  recruited  through  the 
white  slave  markets. 

All  disreputable  women  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  reputed 
immoral  houses,  but  are  scattered  about  the  cities,  some  living 
in  flats  and  apartments,  other  rooming  in  boarding  houses  and 
hotels.  When  I  say  there  are  so  many  living  such  lives,  I  mean 
that  they  number  those  who  are  receiving  money  for  immoral 
purposes  and  bartering  their  honor.  Some  are  holding  posi- 
tions in  stores,  offices  and  factories.  Others  are  in  the  busi- 
ness of  renting  rooms,  conducting  manicure  and  massage  estab- 
lishments, and  many  other  enterprises  merely  as  a  guise  to 
cover  up  the  real  character  of  their  business,  while  still  others 
are  in  the  openly  known  immoral  resorts. 

As  will  be  seen  in  later  chapters  statistics  show  that  the  aver- 
age life  of  a  fallen  woman  is  from  five  to  seven  years.  Taking 
this  average  life  into  consideration  and  the  number  of  these 
women  in  large  cities,  the  natural  supposition  is  that  from  one- 
fifth  to  one-seventh  the  total  number  must  be  recruited  each 
year  to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  those  who  have  quietly  and  unnoticed 
departed  from  the  horrors  and  dread  diseases  of  a  sinful  life. 
Therefore,  if  there  are  five  to  seven  thousand  prostitutes  in  a 
city,  and  that  number  is  not  uncommon,  one  thousand  girls  and 
women  either  gravitate  into  lives  of  shame,  or  are  procured 
into  it  every  year  in  that  city.  After  taking  the  statements  of 
hundreds,  yes  thousands  of  girls  living  in  America's  vice  re- 
sorts, after  nearly  four  hundred  white  slave  cases  have  been 
heard  in  the  courts  of  Chicago  alone,  in  the  past  five  years,  and 
after  scores  of  panders  throughout  North  America  have  made 
confessions  exposing  the  secrets  of  their  foul  business,  we  are 
forced  to  accept  the  conclusion  that  at  least  one  half  the  total 


172  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

number  of  prostitutes  have  been  exploited  for  the  business  by 
panders  and  procurers. 

A  careful  survey  of  the  situation  throughout  the  United 
States  and  Canada  reveals  the  same  conditions.  The  number 
of  girls  in  America  who  are  forced  into  disorderly  houses  by 
the  panders  is  almost  beyond  belief. 

When  girls  are  procured  and  placed  in  vice  resorts  they 
cannot  leave.  Their  stories  are  about  the  same  after  they  are 
made  slaves.  Street  clothes  which  they  are  wearing  are  taken 
away  from  them  and  locked  up,  and  flimsy,  tawdry  "parlor 
gowns ' '  are  given  them  to  wear.  They  are  not  allowed  to  com- 
municate with  the  world  outside  until  they  become  so  seasoned 
to  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  resorts  that  they  do  not  care  to 
leave,  or  are  so  diseased  that  they  cannot  leave,  or  become  too 
abashed  and  downcast  to  mingle  with  their  former  friends  again, 
and  go  to  the  homes  of  their  parents. 

As  has  been  seen  the  simplicity  of  the  system  employed  by 
the  vice  slave  agents  reveals  its  greatest  danger  to  the  wel- 
fare of  society. 

All  the  ways  and  means  for  luring  victims  to  shameful  occu- 
pations have  not  been  fathomed.  Each  day  brings  new  methods 
and  devices.  Each  day  one  who  studies  the  question  becomes 
more  appalled  at  the  magnitude  of  the  problem  and  the  innu- 
merable and  intricate  avenues  that  must  be  followed  to  reach 
those  engaged  in  this  despicable  business. 

THE  WAR  ON  WHITE  SLAVERY. 

In  Chicago,  where  men  of  affairs  are  spending  thousands  of 
dollars  in  an  effort  to  exterminate  the  panders  who  supply  the 
market  for  girls,  no  sooner  is  one  avenue  explored  and  closed 
than  another  one  is  found. 

That  is  to  say,  although  in  that  city,  a  systematic  fight  has 
been  waged  for  the  past  five  years  and  the  traders  in  white 
slaves  have  been  run  down  and  put  behind  jail  bars  by  the 
scores  and  hundreds,  although  graft  and  corruption  which  aided 
the  white  slave  agents  have  been  exposed  and  punished,  and 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  173 

hundreds  of  these  agents  and  traders  fearing  like  punishment 
have  fled  from  the  city,  yet  it  has  been  necessary  to  be  ever 
watchful.  The  persistence  of  these  pests  to  society  is  remarka- 
ble. And  that  can  not  be  wondered  at  when  one  learns  of  the 
comfortable  fortunes  that  have  been  amassed  in  a  very  few 
years  by  the  dealers  in  vice  slaves. 

The  procurers  have  been  pretended  lovers,  they  have 
paraded  as  employers '  agents  in  the  quest  for  female  employees, 
they  have  haunted  dance  halls  and  amusement  places,  they  have 
appeared  as  canvassers  and  as  goodly  matrons  seeking  house 
servants.  Even  licensed  employment  and  theatrical  agencies 
have  been  attracted  by  promises  of  handsome  profits  and  have 
become  involved  in  the  "market  for  souls. "  Yes,  even  public 
officials  and  employees  of  large  business  concerns  and  corpor- 
ations have  been  enticed  by  the  sight  of  gold  to  assist  and  aid 
the  dealers  in  the  white  slave  market. 

Where  to  look  and  how  to  find  the  people  who  deal  in  white 
slaves  is  the  puzzling  problem.  That  large  cities  are  white 
slave  markets  is  easily  established  by  startling  disclosures  since 
the  comparatively  recent  agitations  against  this  business.  More 
than  a  thousand  cases  have  come  to  the  public  notice  in  the 
United  States  in  the  year  1910,  and  the  writer  has  filed  the 
stories  of  the  girls  procured  and  statistics  concerning  these 
cases.  Each  day  brings  new  cases  from  all  parts  of  America. 
For  example : 

THE  FIGHT  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

From  Philadelphia  comes  the  announcement  that  on  Monday, 
January  17,  1910,  Max  alias  Israel  Trackenburg,  alias  Max 
Purks,  was  convicted  of  charges  of  white  slave  practices,  and 
was  sentenced  by  Judge  Kinsey  to  one  year  in  the  county  pris- 
on. His  accuser  was  Flora  L who  said  Trackenburg  in- 
duced her  to  leave  home,  and  he  placed  her  in  a  house  on  Noble 
Street,  where  she  was  found  by  Detective  Marks  and  Lindener. 
She  was  traced  to  the  place  upon  the  investigation  of  members 
of  her  family.  Nearly  all  the  time  the  girl  was  away  from  her 


174  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

home  she  said  she  was  under  the  control  of  Trackenburg,  and 
he  collected  a  percentage  on  her  earnings  in  the  resort  of  vice. 

Again  on  March  second  of  the  same  year  in  the  same  city 
Charles  W.  Barnes  was  sentenced  by  Judge  Joline,  in  the  Cam- 
den  Criminal  Court,  to  serve  three  years  in  the  State  Prison 
because  he  had  several  girls  under  his  domination  as  a  slave 
owner  and  trader. 

Another  Philadelphia  white  slaver,  John  Tito  at  the  close 
of  a  sensational  trial  at  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  on  March  18, 
1910,  was  fined  and  given  six  months  imprisonment.  Tito  had 

lured  Eose  S ,  aged  eighteen  years  from  Shenandoah  to 

Philadelphia. 

A  long  sentence  compared  with  most  of  the  sentences  meted 
out  to  white  slavers  up  to  date  was  given  Louis  Cantor,  a  young, 
smooth-spoken  Austrian  on  April  26,  1910.  He  pleaded  guilty 
before  Judge  Carr,  in  Quarter  Sessions  Court  No.  1,  to  entic- 
ing Dora  E ,  a  pretty  young  Austrian  girl  to  Philadelphia 

and  forcing  her  into  an  immoral  life.  Judge  Carr  told  the 
prisoner  that  he  would  sentence  him  to  the  full  penalty  of  the 
law,  not  only  for  his  own  punishment,  but  as  a  warning  to  his 
associates  in  the  same  business.  On  three  indictments  he  was 
sentenced  to  three  years,  two  years  and  one  year,  respectively, 
making  six  years  in  all  in  the  County  prison. 

When  Cantor  was  placed  in  the  dock  he  pleaded  not  guilty  to 
the  charges  in  the  three  indictments  against  him,  but  after  he  saw 
the  effect  that  the  story  as  related  by  his  victim  had  made  on 
the  Judge  and  jury,  as  was  plainly  detected  on  the  stern  faces 
that  were  turned  towards  him,  he  decided  to  change  his  plea  in 
the  hope  that  his  punishment  might  be  made  light.  Judge  Carr, 
however,  refused  to  listen  to  any  plea  or  excuse,  when  Cantor 
attempted  to  explain  that  he  had  been  told  that  the  girl  was  a 
bad  girl  before  he  met  her. 

Assistant  District  Attorney  Eogers,  who  conducted  the  ex» 
animation  of  the  girl  endeavored  to  learn  from  Cantor  how 
many  of  his  friends  were  engaged  in  the  white  Slave  traffic  in 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  175 

New  York,  but  the  prisoner  could  not  be  led  into  any  confession 
implicating  any  of  his  associates. 

Secretary  Gibboney,  of  the  Law  and  Order  Society,  who  was 
in  court  and  prompted  Mr.  Kogers  in  his  examination  of  the 
girl,  hoped  to  secure  the  arrest  of  several  other  men  with  whom 
Cantor  associated  while  in  this  city,  and  who  are  undoubtedly 
members  of  a  gang  engaged  in  the  white  slave  traffic,  having 
their  base  of  operations  in  New  York,  with  houses  in  Philadel- 
phia, where  young  immigrant  girls  are  taken  once  they  get 
into  the  clutches  of  these  fiends  in  human  form. 

Dora,  who  could  speak  a  little  English  and  who  had  only  been 
in  this  country  a  short  time,  was  an  orphan,  and  was  living  in 
New  York  with  an  uncle  and  supporting  herself  by  working  in 
a  factory.  At  the  noon  hour  she  was  in  the  habit  of  buying 
her  lunch,  along  with  the  other  girls,  in  a  cheap  restaurant  near 
the  factory,  and  it  was  there  Cantor  met  her  and  procured  her 
by  promises  of  better  employment  in  Philadelphia. 

WHITE  SLAVER  GETS  FIVE  YEARS. 

Just  such  another  stinging  rebuke  was  given  Gustave  Lager- 
man  in  February  of  the  same  year  in  New  York  City.  This 
young  pander,  twenty-three  years  old,  one  of  the  most  notorious 
cadets  and  panders  in  Greater  New  York,  was  given  the  limit 
at  hard  labor  in  Sing  Sing  prison  by  Judge  Dike.  Lagerman 
received  a  severe  lambasting  by  the  court  thrown  in  for  good 
measure,  and  yet  he  did  not  appear  to  feel  the  stings,  and  in 
no  way  showed  he  had  a  moral  perception  of  the  great  wrong 
he  had  done  the  young  immigrant  who  had  fallen  into  his 
clutches.  The  prisoner  was  sentenced  to  serve  five  years  on 
conviction  of  assault  in  the  second  degree. 

In  passing  sentence  Judge  Dike  took  cognizance  of  the  pres- 
ent white  slave  agitation,  and  expressed  regret  that  he  could 
not  keep  Lagerman  behind  the  bars  permanently.  The  court 
said: 

"The  jury  has  found  you  guilty  of  the  crime  of  assault  in 
the  second  degree.  You  attacked  a  young  woman,  twenty  years 


176  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

old,  with  whom  you  had  been  living  unlawfully  for  seven  or 
eight  months.  The  proofs  in  this  case  clearly  demonstrate  it 
to  be  what  is  designated  popularly  as  a  l white  slave  case.' 

"You  are  a  monstrous  type  of  the  product  of  our  present 
day  civilization  under  congested  conditions  in  this  world  city. 
Incapable  of  work  yourself,  you  live  upon  the  shame  of  those 
who,  through  affection,  fear,  or  cruelty,  have  fallen  under  your 
baleful  influence. 

"This  vicious  development  of  life  in  the  underworld  now  is 
much  in  the  public  mind.  Your  young  victim  had  a  desire  to 
reform,  to  lead  a  decent  life.  She  was  a  fortunate  woman  to 
find  a  clean,  courageous  man  who  pardoned  her  past  and  who 
has  married  her.  When  you  found  that  your  human  chattel  was 
breaking  away  from  your  influence  you  became  mad  with  dis- 
appointment and  rage  and  committed  an  act  of  violence  against 
her,  and  her  present  husband,  which  brought  you  here  for  sen- 
tence in  this  court. 

"Such  debauchers  of  women,  such  leeches  and  bloodsuckers 
of  human  lives  as  you  and  your  kind  represent,  merit  and  re- 
ceive the  just  condemnation  of  all  good  citizens  and  the  se- 
verest sentence  that  this  court  can  impose. 

"I  only  regret  that  I  cannot  eliminate  you  from  the  life  of 
this  great  city  permanently,  but  I  sentence  you  for  as  long  a 
period  as  the  law  allows — namely,  five  years  in  Sing  Sing 
prison." 

Lagerman  was  a  young  person  of  resources,  agile  and  crafty, 
and  did  not  seem  to  know  when  he  was  down  hard  and  fast. 
His  former  experiences  with  the  police  and  the  courts  had 
shown  him  to  be  a  daring  and  reckless  prisoner  He  had  main- 
tained himself  for  years  on  the  earnings  of  women  whom  he 
had  caught  in  his  snares.  The  revelations  of  this  prisoner's 
crimes  astounded  the  old-timers  who  for  years  had  been  list- 
ening to  stories  of  vice  and  depravity  and  heartlessness. 

Turning  westward  we  find  that  in  October  Frank  0.  Williams 
met  two  girls  Pearl  and  Delia,  at  a  picnic  in  Eock  Springs, 
Ohio.  He  persuaded  them  to  go  to  Pittsburg  with  him,  and 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  177 

there  he  placed  them  in  a  resort  run  by  a  woman  named  Anna 
Hull.  On  the  twentieth  day  of  October,  1910,  both  Williams 
and  the  Hull  woman  were  each  sentenced  to  two  years  and  six 
months  in  prison  under  the  " white  slave  act." 

From  east  to  west  and  north  to  south  come  stories  that  de- 
pict the  horrors  of  the  white  slave  trade.  Out  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1910,  we  read  that  Charles 
Hannon  was  arrested  by  Detectives  Hellyer  and  Maloney  in 
Portland,  Oregon,  for  collecting  the  earnings  of  an  unfortunate 
girl  from  Idaho.  In  order  to  escape  prosecution  on  a  felony 
charge  he  pleaded  guilty  to  a  lesser  offense  and  was  sentenced 
to  three  months  on  the  Linnton  rock  pile  with  a  fine  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars,  which  he  had  to  pay  or  work  out  at  the  rate  of  two 
dollars  a  day. 

The  same  day  in  the  same  city  warrants  were  issued  for  the 
arrest  of  alleged  procurers  who  pretty  Lita  C ,  a  girl  nine- 
teen years  old,  claimed  had  induced  her  to  leave  her  position  as 
a  waitress  in  a  restaurant,  to  lead  a  life  of  shame.  It  was  then 
learned  that  the  girl,  whose  home  was  in  Milwaukee,  had  been 
earning  a  fair  living  in  a  legitimate  employment  until  she  was 
induced  to  leave  it. 

ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST. 

"How  Villains  Lead  Girls  to  Destruction "  was  the  heading 
of  an  article  printed  Tuesday,  May  10,  1910,  in  the  Oakland, 
California,  Enquirer.  It  read  as  follows : 

"How  the  ruin  of  young  girls  is  accomplished  was  today  told 
during  the  trial  of  Tony  Flores,  charged  with  being  a  i  white 
slave'  dealer  who  is  fighting  for  liberty  before  Judge  Brown. 
He  is  accused  of  seizing  E.  Emerson  >s  necessity  when  she  was 
out  of  employment  and  without  funds  to  introduce  her  to  a  life 
of  shame.  The  girl  is  not  yet  sixteen. 

According  to  the  testimony  so  far  produced,  Flores  and  Will- 
iam Carlin  met  the  girl  at  Seventh  and  Market  Streets,  San 
Francisco,  last  December,  and  learned  that  she  was  without  a 
position  and  almost  penniless  in  a  strange  city. 

12 


178  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

"They  told  Her,  according  to  the  girPs  story,  that  they  would 
find  for  her  a  position  as  chambermaid  in  a  hotel.  They  gave 
her  a  letter  to  Ethel  Day,  keeper  of  a  notorious  resort  at  477 
Sixth  Street,  and  the  girl  claims  they  told  her  she  must  say  she 
was  twenty  years  old,  though  they  knew  she  had  not  reached 
sixteen. 

"Mrs.  Rose  Emerson,  mother  of  the  girl,  was  brought  from 
Willits  to  be  a  witness,  and  today  she  sobbed  out  what  she  knew 
of  her  daughter's  downfall.  Her  chief  use  as  a  witness  was  to 
establish  the  girl's  age.  Mrs.  Emerson  carried  in  her  arms  a 
small  baby  as  she  told  her  story  in  court. 

"Detective  R.  V.  McSorley  related  a  confession  he  said  Flores 
had  made  to  him,  in  which  Flores  acknowledged  he  had1  placed 
the  girl  in  the  house  of  shame,  but  in  which  Floras-  declared  that 
Carlin  was  the  leader.  Carlin  pleaded  guilty  to  a  charge  of 
abduction. ' ' 

Do  these  horrible  tales  from  various  cities  convince  that  large 
cities  are  white  slave  markets?  Is  it  necessary  to  outline  each 
crimson  life  that  cringes  and  swelters  under  the  lash  of  white 
slave  torture  in  order  to  satisfy  the  morbid  cravings  of  the 
mind?  Many  girls  have  been  auctioned  off  to  the  highest  bid- 
der. Perhaps  they  never  escaped,  perhaps  no  friend  or  rela- 
tive ever  found  them,  perhaps  they  trudged  down  the  bloody- 
crimson  path,  clutching  here  at  a  twig  to  hold  them  back  from 
utter  ruin,  groping  in  the  dark  to  find  a  chance  avenue  back  to 
decency,  stumbling,  tumbling  and  falling  too  soon  into  the  un- 
fathomable abyss.  The  cold  blood  of  these  girls  is  witness  and 
their  very  souls  cry  out  against  these  markets  that  you  good 
people,  pious  fathers  of  large  cities  allow  to  exist.  Yes,  they 
cry  out  like  a  shriek  coming  from  the  tomb  against  you  who  al- 
low your  city  governments  and  the  police  to  remain  in  the  hands 
of  men  who  fatten  on  the  bodies  and  souls  of  these  girls. 

AWAY  WITH  THE  SLAVE  MARKETS!     AWAY  WITH  THE  VICE  DISTRICTS! 

But  you  say  how  can  it  be  done?  Smaller  flames  than  these 
have  kindled  revolutions.  Such  cases,  such  stories,  such  con- 
victions should  set  the  world  on  fire. 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  179 

More  proof  you  say?  Go  to  the  Desplaines  Street  Court  on 
the  west  side  of  Chicago  the  eighteenth  day  of  November,  1910, 
and  hear  Judge  Torrison  denounce  that  fawning,  grinning 
Harry  Frank.  Hear  this  Judge,  his  eyes  aflame  with  indigna- 
tion, say : 

"  Frank  you  are  an  inhuman  wretch.  I  shall  give  you  the 
limit  of  the  law,  and  I  only  wish  I  could  give  you  more." 

Hear  the  spectators  applaud  the  Court's  decision. 

What  do  you  think  this  all  means  I 

It  means  that  in  Chicago  a  smooth  procurer  gained  the  heart 
of  a  poor  hard  working  little  girl  of  foreign  parentage.  It 
means  also  he  pretended  he  would  marry  her,  even  going  so  far 
as  to  secure  a  marriage  license  which  was  advertised  in  the 
papers.  He  took  the  girl  away  to  get  married,  but  instead  he 
put  her  in  a  house  of  vice  in  Gary,  Indiana.  The  girl,  pure  and 
sweet,  was  horrified  and  too  ashamed  to  let  her  sister  know  her 
plight.  Her  betrayer  even  forced  her  to  write  letters  home  as 
he  dictated  them,  so  that  her  sister,  her  only  near  relative, 
would  not  be  suspicious.  Here  is  one  from  Gary : 

"Gary,  Indiana. 

My  Dear  Sister:  I  am  well  and  hoping  to  hear  the  same  from  you.  I'm  out  on 
a  visit.  Will  stay  here  for  a  week,  and  when  I  come  back  to  the  city  I  will  have  a 
surprise  for  you.  Don't  worry  about  me  because  I'm  in  good  hands.  I  have  nothing 
more  to  write  so  I  close.  With  best  regards  to  all.  From  you  loving  sister, 

MARTHA  G ." 

Yes,  he  made  the  girl  write  that  she  was  in  good  hands.  For 
him  she  was  in  good  hands,  for  she  was  making  a  living  for  him 
from  her  shame  in  a  den  of  vice.  Notice  he  did  not  allow  her 
to  give  any  address  for  an  answer. 

Finally  he  learned  his  victim  was  to  become  a  mother,  and 
he  brought  her  back  to  Chicago  and  placed  her  in  another  resort 
on  Dearborn  Street  in  the  south  side  red  light  district.  When 
the  madam  of  this  place,  who  still  retained  a  spark  of  woman- 
hood, discovered  the  girl's  condition,  and  ascertained  the  girl's 
home  was  in  Chicago,  she  told  Frank  that  she  was  going  to  take 
the  girl  back  home. 


180  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

Then  the  "  inhuman  wretch"  said:  "No,  I  will  send  her 
home, ' '  and  he  took  her  away  only  to  sell  her  again  into  another 
resort  on  the  west  side  of  Chicago.  When  the  poor  girl,  in  a 
pitiable  condition,  learned  that  he  would  not  take  her  home,  in 
utter  despair  she  attempted  to  slip  out  and  go  home  alone.  She 
was  caught,  tied  to  a  bed  by  Frank  and  whipped  and  beaten  un- 
mercifully. Even  the  hardened  inmates  of  the  resort,  used  to 
rough  treatment,  could  not  stand  this,  and  gladly  testified 
against  this  heartless  wretch  in  court. 

The  madam  on  Dearborn  Street  suspected  that  Frank  did  not 
take  the  girl  home,  so  she  went  out  to  the  sister's  home  and  in- 
quired for  Martha.  The  sister  had  not  heard  from  her  for  a 
long  time.  Then  the  woman  of  the  red  light  district  informed 
the  grief  stricken  sister  of  Martha's  misfortune. 

The  madam  notified  Deaconess  Estella  Manley,  a  loyal  and 
true  woman  who  is  devoting  her  life  to  the  redemption  of  girls 
lost  in  the  vice  districts  of  Chicago. 

The  sister  notified  Alderman  Beilfuss  of  the  ward  in  which 
she  lived. 

Both  Deaconess  Manley  and  Alderman  Beilfuss  came  to  the 
writer's  office  for  aid.  Detectives  James  Bell,  Joseph  Kinder 
and  William  Bowler  assigned  to  the  writer's  office  by  the  Gen- 
eral Superintendent  of  Police  were  put  upon  the  case.  The  girl 
was  found  and  rescued,  and  Frank  was  caught  and  sentenced. 

Will  it  impress  the  fact  upon  you  more  vividly  that  large  cities 
are  white  slave  markets  to  tell  how  Alma,  another  daughter 
of  the  poor,  was  promised  a  good  position  of  housework  by  Mary 
Adams  f  Of  how  the  Adams  woman  took  her  out  to  South  Chi- 
cago on  the  Strand  and  sold  her  into  the  resort  owned  by  Adam 
Lewicki  and  run  by  Helen  Blewiski,  and  how  this  girl  was  finally 
rescued  by  representatives  of  The  White  Cross  Society? 

MUST  THE  SACRIFICE  GO  ON? 

If  numbers  must  be  used  to  convince,  then  thousands  of  girls 
will  not  have  been  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  vice  in  vain. 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  181 

Their  sorrows,  their  heart-aches,  their  sufferings  will  plead  their 
cause. 

Let  little  Emily  S of  Milwaukee  help  arouse  an  inert, 

quiescent  and  sleepy  public  to  its  duty.  She  was  procured  in 
Milwaukee  hy  a  man  named  Paul  Delman  who  took  her  to  the 
resort  of  Helen  Weiss  on  Curtis  Street  in  Chicago.  The  girl  who 
was  eighteen  years  of  age  became  sick  and  was  taken  to  the 
hospital.  Here  representatives  from  the  Hull  House  found  her, 
and  notified  the  mother.  Her  procurer  was  never  apprehended, 
but  Helen  Weiss  entered  a  plea  of  guilty  before  Judge  Torrison 
on  the  sixteenth  day  of  December,  1910. 

Thus  with  prosecution  after  prosecution  the  white  slave  mar- 
ket in  Chicago  is  rapidly  being  closed.  The  people  in  that  city 
at  last  are  aroused.  Noteworthy  help  has  been  given  by  LeKoy 
;T.  Steward,  the  General  Superintendent  of  Police,  or  the 
"  Chief, "  as  he  is  popularly  called.  Three  detectives  have  been 
assigned  to  the  writer's  office  by  the  " Chief "  to  help  hunt  down 
and  catch  the  white  slavers.  A  system  of  espionage  has  been 
established  throughout  Chicago.  "Stool-pigeons,"  the  police 
call  such  fellows  as  William  Simes  who  worked  as  a  bartender 
in  Van  Bever's  infamous  "Paris"  resort.  He  was  brought 
over  to  the  side  of  justice  and  gave  the  writer  valuable  informa- 
tion. You  will  remember  reading  his  confession  in  chapter  five. 
Little  did  you  dream,  perhaps,  that  the  way  he  was  fighting  the 
slave  traffic  was  to  work  right  in  the  midst  of  it. 

To  defeat  the  panders  and  slave  traders  they  must  be  met 
on  equal  terms,  level  ground,  and  the  tricks  they  play  must  be 
turned  against  them.  They  cannot  be  caught  by  going  out  and 
looking  at  the  sky.  If  they  try  to  buy  up  your  detectives,  you 
turn  around  and  buy  up  their  agents.  Turn  about  is  fair  play. 
Two  can  play  at  that  game,  and  we  have  caught  them  in  their 
own  game.  Simes  first  a  pander  and  procurer  became  after  a 
while  a  spy  in  the  very  heart  of  their  wretched  business. 

The  end  is  still  a  speculation.  However,  if  other  cities  would 
follow  the  example  of  Chicago,  and  make  a  thorough  clearing 
out,  not  in  a  sporadic  and  sensational  way,  but  by  using  ra- 


182  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

tional  business  methods,  the  end  would  not  be  far  distant.  If 
all  the  states  would  join  in  with  the  twenty  or  more  which  have 
passed  stringent  white  slave  laws  effective  machinery  would  be 
built  to  be  put  in  motion  by  the  people  when  aroused  to  the 
seriousness  of  the  situation  which  confronts  the  whole  nation. 

AMERICA'S  COMMERCIALIZED  DAUGHTERS. 

An  America  commercialized  has  commercialized  its  daugh- 
ters. Who  would  have  ever  prophesied  a  century  ago  that  to- 
day like  hardware  and  groceries  the  daughters  of  the  people 
would  be  bought  and  sold?  But  to  such  a  day  as  this  our  greed 
for  money  has  brought  us.  How  low  have  we  sunk  when  now 
we  make  commerce  of  virtue  and  market  the  sanctity  of  the 
home. 

The  white  slave  market  is  here,  and  we  can  legislate  against 
it,  we  may  close  it  up  in  one  place,  or  drive  it  away  to  another 
by  prosecutions  and  convictions,  but  it  will  never  be  blotted 
out  until  we  change  social  conditions;  educate  men  to  a  higher 
standard  of  right  and  wrong;  and  we  have  wiped  out  the  de- 
mand. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  white  slaves  are  bought  and 
sold  because  men  have  created  the  demand.  There  will  be  com- 
mercialized vice  as  long  as  men  demand  it,  and  women  can  be 
found  to  supply  it.  Therefore,  if  we  would  break  up  the  great- 
est curse  that  so  called  civilized  society  has  ever  known,  the 
traffic  in  girls  and  women,  it  is  necessary  to  begin  at  the  bottom 
and  gradually  build  a  new  foundation  and  erect  thereon  a  new 
code  of  morals  for  mankind.  This  can  not  be  accomplished  in 
a  day,  a  year,  nor  a  decade,  and  perhaps  in  half  a  century.  But 
through  a  systematic  campaign  of  education  and  publicity  won- 
ders can  and  will  be  accomplished.  Armies  of  prosecutors  with 
their  corps  of  assistants  can  never  entirely  obliterate  white 
slavery,  they  may  reduce  it  to  a  minimum,  but  so  long  as  prosti- 
tution is  allowed  to  exist,,  procurers  will  creep  around  upon 
their  slimy  knees  looking  for  new  worms  to  cast  to  the  fishes* 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  183 

HOW  THE  WAR  MUST  BE  WAGED. 

Little  by  little  the  fighters  against  the  traffic  in  girls  are  mov- 
ing forward.  Gaining  ground  here,  winning  other  soldiers 
there.  We  can  not  all  use  the  same  methods  in  gaining  converts 
1  to  battle,  because  the  same  methods  will  not  be  successful  with 
all  people.  Some  narrow-minded  and  short-sighted  people  who 
would  reform  the  world  in  one  day  can  not  be  patient  and  wait 
to  grasp  opportunities  to  advance  the  cause  they  would  repre- 
sent. Sometimes  these  people  are  not  big  enough  or  broad 
enough  to  comprehend  that  other  people  have  views  and  ideas, 
as  well  as  they,  which  must  be  gradually  changed  and  moulded 
by  education.  The  job  undertaken  in  such  cases  is  too  big  for 
them,  and  they  injure  more  than  they  do  good.  They  try  to 
thrust  their  views  upon  people,  force  them  down  their  throats, 
and  when  it  does  not  work  they  rant  around  like  mad  men,  berat- 
ing and  belittling  every  one  and  everybody  who  will  not  think 
and  act  exactly  as  they  wish. 

Be  patient  friends  and  fighters  in  the  great  warfare  against 
the  traffic  in  girls.  Do  not  be  so  small  as  to  try  to  prevent  good 
people  speaking,  lecturing  and  working  in  this  great  educa- 
tional and  publicity  campaign  just  because  their  views  upon 
every  phase  of  attack  in  ttie  various  battles  do  not  meet  with 
your  approval  and  coincide  exactly  with  your  views.  Such  an 
attitude  is  puerile  and  unmanly. 

Some  of  the  workers  are  idealists  and  want  their  ideals  real- 
ized at  once.  Be  patient,  do  not  be  discouraged,  but  keep  right 
on  working.  Those  of  us  who  claim  to  be  more  practical,  sure- 
ly more  conservative,  will  work  along  systematically  and  skill- 
fully, meeting  each  obstacle,  fighting  manfully  against  every 
barrier,  and  all  the  time  we  shall  keep  our  eyes  fixed  on  the 
goal,  the  pinnacle  the  idealist  and  theorist  has  set  up. 

Workers  who  have  only  a  reading  knowledge  of  this  awful 
traffic  should  be  careful  to  not  overstate  the  facts,  instead  give 
out  the  facts  in  homeopathic  doses,  for  the  facts  are  often  too 
terrible,  too  repulsive  for  the  uninitiated.  People  in  some  com- 
munities are  not  ready  for  the  bare  unvarnished  details  of  this 


184  WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS 

hideous  monster  called  white  slavery.  They  will  be  repulsed 
at  the  outset  if  diplomatic  tactics  are  not  pursued.  Customs 
have  not  grown  up  in  a  day  or  a  year,  neither  can  they  be  up- 
set, broken  down  and  rebuilt  in  a  day  or  a  year. 

The  traffic  in  girls  is  a  great  problem  to  be  solved.  It  is  in- 
tricately interwoven  with  public  and  civic  morals.  Civic  mor- 
als relate  to  the  morals  of  men  and  women  as  members  of  so- 
ciety and  the  defect  in  civic  morals  is  vice.  Vice  is  a  moral 
fault  or  failing,  especially  immoral  conduct  or  habit ;  the  devia- 
tion from  the  right  standard,  implying  a  defect  of  the  natural 
character,  or  a  defect  as  the  result  of  training  and  habits. 
Therefore,  to  effectually  and  completely  stamp  out  the  white 
slave  markets  our  methods  must  not  only  be  obstructive,  but 
also  constructive,  not  only  punitive,  but  preventive  as  well. 

In  carrying  on  this  fight,  the  plan  should  cover  immediate 
relief  from  obnoxious  civil  morals,  such  as  the  extensive  traffic 
in  girls  and  women,  and  the  protection  of  open  prostitution. 
Laws  should  be  passed  in  states  not  having  adequate  laws  at 
the  earliest  possible  time  making  pandering,  procuring,  pimp- 
ing and  commercialized  prostitution  a  crime.  Then  enforcement 
of  these  laws  should  be  insisted  upon  by  co-operating  with  the 
public  authorities  in  seeking  out  offenders  and  aiding  in  their 
apprehension  and  conviction. 

The  public  opinion  upon  this  subject  should  be  moulded  by 
an  extensive  educational  campaign,  setting  forth  truthfully  such 
facts  as  become  known  from  time  to  time,  through  lectures,  pa- 
pers and  pamphlets.  Publicity  will  not  only  change  the  public 
conscience  and  stir  it  to  action  in  the  apprehension  and  con- 
viction of  offenders,  but  will  give  to  girls  and  women  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  schemes  used  by  the  white  slave  procurers,  expose 
the  methods  of  those  in  this  business,  and  will,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, prevent  the  unwary  ones  from  being  victimized. 

Then  finally  a  complete  plan  of  education  in  regard  to  sex 
problems,  social  hygiene,  and  dread  vice  diseases  should  be  in- 
stituted, beginning  at  the  home  and  the  school.  Every  agency 
for  moral  uplift  should  be  encouraged  and  promoted  in  homes, 


WHITE  SLAVE  MARKETS  185 

schools,  business  concerns  and  among  governmental  authorities. 
Thus  by  conservatively  insisting  upon  right  training  and  upon 
acquiring  the  right  standard  of  morals,  habits  will  be  moulded 
and  defects  of  the  natural,  normal  and  pure  character  will  be 
cured.  Perhaps  years  and  generations  of  development  and 
training  will  be  necessary  to  accomplish  this  ideal,  yet  it  can  be 
accomplished.  Until  it  is  accomplished  the  white  slave  markets 
will  not  entirely  be  blotted  out. 

White  slavery  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  over  stimulated  de- 
mand, incited  and  encouraged  by  men  and  women,  low  and  de- 
generate, grasping  and  avaricious,  greedy  for  money.  With  the 
development  of  a  pure  and  natural  character  in  mankind  the  de- 
mand for  prostitution  will  cease,  the  cause  for  procuring  guile- 
less victims  will  be  cut  off,  and  then  white  slavery  will  be  no 
more. 

Remember  this,  no  demand,  no  supply. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  WHITE  SLAVE  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO. 

The  appalling  exposition  of  vice,  lust  and  shamei — The  human  stockyards — 
The  slaughter  house  for  girls — The  Reign  of  Debauchery — A  night  of 
horror — Chicago  the  first  city  to  clean  up— The  exposition  of  vice  going 
and  going  forever. 

Have  you  ever  gone  to  a  large  exposition,  a  state,  national  or 
world 's  fair  1  There  you  find  avenues  lined  on  either  side  with 
beautiful  merchandise  and  goods.  In  the  live  stock  buildings  are 
rows  and  rows  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs.  People  are 
surging  back  and  forth,  stopping  here  and  there  to  view  the  ex- 
hibitions. Now  and  then  they  go  up  to  booths  drink  cider  and 
cold  lemonade,  or  seat  themselves  in  one  of  the  many  lunch 
rooms,  and  then  again  you  see  others  purchasing  the  wares  for 
sale.  There  is  music,  bands  and  orchestras  playing;  side  shows 
and  amusements  welcome  visitors ;  at  night  the  eyes  are  dazzled 
with  myriads  of  electric  lights. 

In  many  large  cities  you  will  find  similar  expositions  only  of  a 
different  character,  not  open  only  for  a  season,  but  continuing  to 
attract  great  hordes  of  people  all  the  year  round.  In  some  of  the 
cities  these  exhibitions  are  brilliantly  lighted  with  electric  signs. 
The  glare  of  the  lights  may  be  seen  at  night  for  blocks  or  squares 
away.  As  you  approach  nearer  the  sound  of  music  catches  the 
ear.  Yes,  here  too  are  orchestras  playing  popular  strains  in 
cafes.  Music  boxes  and  pianos  fill  the  air  with  rasping,  gingling 
tunes.  There  are  long  avenues,  streets  and  alleys  lined  on  either 
side  with  saloons?  booths,  cribs  and  palaces  of  shame.  People 
are  going  in  and  out  banging  and  swinging  the  doors.  Windows 
reflecting  varied  colors  and  lights  are  partly  open.  Within  there 
is  dancing  and  laughter.  Shouts  and  curses  are  wafted  along  in 
the  soft  night  air.  Also  one  will  find  there  the  rows  and  rows  of 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  187 

livestock.  The  hogs  wallowing  in  their  filth  and  drinking  till 
their  bellies  ache.  Sheep  and  lambs,  gentle  and  unobtrusive  are 
following  the  belle  weather.  Like  cattle  girls  are  herded  for  the 
slaughter,  while  men  like  stallions  prance  about  in  their  drunken 
revelry.  Yet,  there  is  more,  there  is  the  market,  aye  the  *  '  Mar- 
ket for  Souls, "  where  human  beings  are  sold  into  "Houses  of 
Bondage."  You  will  find  in  this  great  awful  exhibition  of  vice 
"Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves."  The  shrieks  and  moanings 
of  the  helpless  linger  on  the  ear.  Those  who  are  being  beaten 
cry  out  for  help.  Here,  too,  are  side  shows  and  base  amuse- 
ments. Slave  owners  and  girl  traders  saunter  about  smoking 
black  cigars,  and  wearing  huge  diamonds  in  their  shirts  to  be- 
wilder and  blind  guileless  youth.  Women  in  blazing  red  gowns 
flit  in  and  out  of  doors.  Debauchery  reigns  supreme.  The  night 
rolls  on  amid  the  din,  the  uproar  and  the  noise,  till  the  grey  dawn 
mellows  the  darkness  and  all  again  is  still. 

Such  exhibitions  of  lust  and  shame  you  will  find  from  Philadel- 
phia to  San  Francisco,  from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Paul,  and  in  the 
center  of  all  Chicago.  Yet  Chicago  has  been  shamed.  The  great 
city  on  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  has  said,  this  hor- 
rible exhibition  must  be  stopped.  It  has  started  to  clean  up,  and 
that  is  the  message  Chicago  sends  its  sister  cities  today. 

Gradually,  but  surely,  the  exposition  of  vice  in  Chicago  is  go- 
ing, and  going  forever.  And  as  this  crusade  is  now  in  progress, 
it  will  be  interesting  to  learn  what  success  has  been  attained, 
and  how  it  was  accomplished. 

Chicago  is  unique  in  this  cleaning  up  process.  It  does  not 
claim  to  be  the  first  city  in  America  to  stop  the  expositions  of 
vice  that  have  attracted  so  many  sight-seers  and  visitors.  In 
this  respect  Los  Angeles,  California,  and  Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
are  both  ahead  of  Chicago,  inasmuch  as  these  cities  have  ef- 
fectively eliminated  their  vice  districts  and  expositions.  Also 
other  cities  have  made  sporadic,  and  sometimes  sensational,  at- 
tempts to  eliminate  vice  expositions.  There  was  the  blare  of 
trumpets,  a  great  flourish,  and  all  was  over.  In  such  attempts 
vice  was  scattered  instead  of  being  cleaned  up. 


188  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

Chicago  is  unique  in  that  a  systematic  and  business  campaign 
has  been  inaugurated  and  pressed  forward  with  great  zeal 
against  the  traffic  in  girls.  Not  sensational,  except  with  a  few 
isolated  individuals  and  their  associations,  but  practical  plans 
have  been  mapped  out  and  followed  rigidly.  The  Chicago  mot- 
to: "I  Will,"  is  alike  the  motto  of  the  Committee  for  Suppres- 
sion of  the  White  Slave  Traffic  in  Chicago. 

There  had  been  rumblings  and  mutterings  in  the  past  against 
white  slavery  in  Chicago,  but  without  much  apparent  effect  upon 
the  minds  of  the  people.  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  October, 
1906,  that  a  few  of  Chicago's  citizens  became  really  aware  that 
Chicago  was  a  trading  center  for  the  white  slave  buyers  and 
sellers.  Then  it  was  that  a  group  of  earnest  workers  held  a 
convention  under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Purity  Federa- 
tion, and  Eeverend  Sidney  C.  Kendall,  of  California,  who  had 
twice  traversed  the  North  American  Continent  endeavoring  to 
arouse  ministers,  churches  and  reform  associations  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  white  slave  problem,  delivered  an  ardent  ad- 
dress which  at  last  got  under  the  skin  of  a  few  ministers  and  set- 
tlement workers.  This  group  of  Chicago  people  was  stirred  to 
redouble  the  efforts  already  put  forth.  There  had  been  rescue 
work  done  before  this,  and  rescue  homes  had  been  established, 
one  of  them  right  in  the  heart  of  the  red  light  district. 

HEROES  IN  THE  FIGHT. 

Too  great  prominence  can  not  be  given  the  sturdy  and  sacri- 
ficing efforts  made  by  such  workers  as  Eeverend  Ernest  A. 
Bell,  Eeverend  Melbourne  P.  Boynton,  Deaconess  Lucy  A.  Hall, 
and  Salvation  Army  workers,  and  many  others  who  stood  night 
after  night  in  the  midst  of  the  vice  exposition  in  Chicago,  yes 
amid  the  clatter  and  clamor  of  Chicago's  shame,  and  preached 
and  prayed  for  better  conditions.  Harassed  and  jeered  at,  they 
continued  unceasingly. 

Eeverend  Ernest  A.  Bell  had  established  The  Midnight  Mis- 
sion in  the  worst  part  of  this  district  as  early  as  August,  1904. 
This  mission  continues  in  its  work  of  endeavoring  to  better 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  189 

social  and  moral  conditions  to  this  day,  and  may  it  long  continue 
to  help  uplift  the  fallen. 

Soon  after  Reverend  Sidney  C.  Kendall  delivered  his  rousing 
denunciation  of  the  white  slave  traffic,  in  the  fall  of  1906,  Rev- 
erend Bell,  and  Deaconess  Hall  began  to  look  about  them  for 
evidences  of  this  traffic. 

The  writer  had  known  something  of  it  in  a  vague  way,  having 
tried  a  case  as  early  as  1905,  which  involved  white  slavery. 
Again  in  December,  1906,  he  prosecuted  a  case  in  which  Henriet- 
ta B claimed  that  Morris  Goldstein  had  brought  her  from 

Duluth,  Minnesota,  upon  the  promise  of  giving  her  employment 
in  a  theatrical  company,  and  when  she  reached  Chicago  she  was 
made  a  white  slave.  Morris  Goldstein  was  convicted. 

However,  it  was  not  until  the  letter  part  of  January,  1907,  that 
the  writer's  suspicions  were  aroused  that  an  enormous  traffic 
in  girls  was  going  on  in  Chicago.  He  was  then  Assistant  State 's 
Attorney,  and  he  convicted  Panzy  Williams,  January  thirty-first, 

1907,  for  procuring  Agnes  T for  a  life  of  shame.  The  case 

was  brought  into  court  by  Reverend  Bell. 

UNCOVERING  THE  GREAT  HIDEOUS  BUSINESS. 

Then  it  was  that  the  writer  determined  that  these  were  not 
isolated  cases,  but  were  instead  only  outbursts  of  a  great  hid- 
eous business  which  had  bounded  to  the  surface.  He  then  and 
there  pledged  to  Judge  John  R.  Newcomer,  that  if  he  convicted 
the  defendant,  he,  the  writer,  would  investigate  the  statements 
that  Agnes  had  made,  and  if  girls  were  bought  and  sold,  as  this 
girl  claimed  they  were,  he  would  drag  white  slavery  "  from  its 
hiding  place  to  the  light  of  day."  As  to  how  well  he  has  kept 
his  word,  this  book  is  evidence. 

The  story  of  the  struggles  of  the  writer  against  the  traffic  in 
girls  is  a  long  one,  too  long  to  detail. 

Many  people  have  claimed  to  be  the  first  to  begin  the  fight 
against  white  slavery.  What  does  it  matter  who  started  it,  the 
question  is  who  is  going  to  finish  it.  There  has  been  too  much 
jealousy  among  workers  against  white  slavery  as  to  who  has 


190  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

done  this,  and  who  is  doing  that,  too  many  bickerings  for  honor 
and  distinction  in  the  fight.  In  the  name  of  God  and  for  the 
love  of  humanity  get  together,  work  together,  each  one  doing  his 
little  part,  correlating  the  work  of  others.  Organizations  and 
committees  should  all  co-operate  and  mutually  help  and  encour- 
age each  other,  although  they  may  differ  as  to  methods  and  pro- 
cedure. 

No  one  man  or  woman,  nor  no  one  society  in  America  is  so 
large  and  influential  in  this  fight,  which  is  only  just  begun,  that 
he,  she  or  it  can  dominate  all  the  others.  In  unity  there  is 
strength.  Let  each  concede  something  to  the  other.  There  is 
good  in  all,  and  all  will  help  in  the  winning  of  battles  and  all 
will  have  a  share  in  the  glory  when  the  war  at  last  in  done. 

The  present  historic  fight  against  white  slavery  in  Chicago 
dates  from  the  day  Panzy  Williams  was  convicted.  To  the  writ- 
er it  makes  little  difference  whether  or  not  he  was  the  first  pros- 
ecutor in  America  to  take  up  the  fight  for  this  cause.  It  makes 
little  difference  to  people  in  general  now  what  may  have  been 
the  hardships,  the  rebuffs,  the  sneers,  the  gibes  and  the  taunts 
he  endured  and  lived  through.  The  important  question  today  is, 
how  was  it  all  accomplished  I 

A  secret  investigation  was  made  through  the  kind  aid  of  de- 
tectives loaned  by  The  Citizen's  Association  and  The  Chicago 
Law  and  Order  League.  This  investigation  revealed  the  as- 
tounding truth  of  a  gigantic  white  slave  business  flourishing 
throughout  North  America,  and  yes  throughout  the  world.  Our 
main  interest  then  was  Chicago.  Arrests  were  made  and  pro- 
curers and  slave  owners  were  prosecuted.  From  the  spring  of 
1907  to  the  present  time  the  writer  has  averaged  more  than  one 
conviction  of  a  white  slaver  a  week.  Besides  this  other  prose- 
cutors in  Chicago  have  convicted  large  numbers,  making  the 
total  about  four  hundred. 

A  MAGNIFICENT  RECORD. 

Most  of  the  year  1907  was  prolific  in  white  slave  cases.  Feb- 
ruary tenth  of  the  next  year  The  Illinois  Vigilance  Association 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  191 

was  formed.  The  Chairman  of  the  National  Vigilance  Commit- 
tee Dr.  0.  Edward  Janney,  was  present  at  the  time,  and  aided 
in  the  formation  of  this  new  Association  to  fight  white  slavery 
in  Illinois. 

In  March  of  the  same  year  The  Joint  Club  Committee  for  the 
suppression  of  the  traffic  in  girls  was  formed  to  help  in  secur- 
ing laws  adequate  to  punish  the  offenders  in  this  business.  Mr. 
Robert  Catherwood  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee,  Mr. 
David  B.  Lyman,  Jr.,  was  was  Treasurer,  the  writer  was 
Chairman  and  representatives  of  the  following  clubs  and 
organizations  were  members:  The  Union  League  Club,  The 
Hamilton  Club,  The  City  Club,  The  Iroquois  Club,  The  Jeffer- 
son Club,  The  Quadrangle  Club,  The  Press  Club,  The  B'nai 
B'rith  Society,  The  Illinois  Vigilance  Association,  The  Chicago 
Law  and  Order  League,  and  The  Citizen's  Association. 

This  committee,  numbering  among  its  members  some  of  the 
best  Judges  and  lawyers  in  the  City  of  Chicago,  caused  the  pas- 
sage of  the  now  famous  Illinois  Pandering  Law,  in  the  spring 
of  1908,  the  first  law  of  its  kind  in  America. 

The  Jewish  people,  incensed  because  of  the  part  Jews  were 
playing  in  the  nauseating  white  slave  tragic-drama,  organized 
against  the  traffic  in  girls.  Such  notable  men  as  Judge  Julian 
W.  Mack,  Judge  Philip  Stein  and  Honorable  Adolf  Kraus,  were 
enlisted  in  the  fight.  These  men  were  also  members  of  the  Joint 
Club  Committee. 

The  year  following,  the  spring  of  1909,  an  amendment  to  the 
Pandering  Law  was  passed  through  the  efforts  of  this  same 
committee  to  whose  ranks  had  been  added  the  name  of  Mr. 
Henry  P.  Heizer,  law  partner  of  Honorable  Edward  D.  Shurt- 
leff,,  then  Speaker  of  the  House  in  Springfield. 

This  law  stands  today  unparalleled  and  unblemished.  Four 
times  it  has  stood  the  onslaughts  of  lawyers  representing  the 
combined  strength  of  the  white  slave  traffickers,  and  each  time 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  has  upheld  the  law. 

In  the  spring  of  1908  the  able  United  States  District  Attorney 
in  Chicago,  Honorable  Edwin  W.  Sims,  began  his  notable  prose- 


192  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

cutions  against  procurers  who  were  making  a  business  of  im- 
porting foreign  girls  and  selling  them  into  disreputable  resorts. 
He  was  invited,  as  was  also  the  writer,  during  that  year  to  lunch 
with  a  Committee  composed  mostly  of  members  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Commerce  in  Chicago  to  make  an  investigation  into 
the  traffic  in  girls.  From  evidence  given  to  that  Committee 
by  Mr.  Sims  and  the  writer,  it  was  deemed  advisable 
to  form  a  Committee  composed  of  business  men  to  aid 
in  the  suppression  of  white  slavery  in  Chicago.  About 
the  same  time  the  B'nai  B'rith  Society  had  decided  to  en- 
ter more  actively  into  the  fight,  and  employ  a  lawyer  to  aid  in  se- 
curing evidence  against,  and  prosecuting  the  panders. 

Almost  simultaneously,  during  the  same  week,  both  the  above 
Committee  and  the  B  'nai  B  'rith  Society  made  overtures  to  the 
writer  to  resign  from  the  office  of  the  State's  Attorney,  and 
take  up  the  special  work  of  prosecuting  these  cases. 

UNDERTAKING  A  COLOSSAL  WORK. 

Finally  both  these  groups  joined  together  and  the  writer  did 
resign  in  September,  1909,  and  took  up  the  work  in  October  of 
that  year.  Since  then  the  personnel  of  the  Committee  has 
largely  been  kept  secret  for  thereby  it  was  thought  its  work 
could  be  carried  on  more  effectively. 

The  following  is  a  report  of  the  work  done  from  October,  1909, 
to  October,  1910: 

Eeport  of  Clifford  G.  Eoe  to  the  Committee  Directing  and 
Maintaining  an  Office  to  Combat  the  Traffic  in  Girls. 

Herewith  I  send  you  a  report  of  the  work  which  has  been  ac- 
complished by  this  office  during  the  past  year. 

In  accordance  with  your  request  I  have  included  in  my  report 
a  summary  of  the  various  stages  in  the  development  of  this  office 
and  its  work. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1909  a  group  of  business  men  formed  a 
Committee  to  investigate  the  traffic  in  girls  commonly  known  as 
the  White  Slave  Trade. 

Thorough  investigation  proved  conclusively  that  such  a  traffic 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  193 

did  exist,  which  was  not  only  detrimental  to  the  morals  of  Chi- 
cago, but  was  also  a  great  injury  to  the  business  interests  of  the 
city. 

This  group  of  men  determined  to  establish  an  office  on  a  busi- 
ness basis  to  systematically  and  effectually  eliminate  these  girl 
traders,  legally  called  panders,  from  the  city. 

Having  been  invited  to  take  charge  of  this  office  by  these  men, 
I  accepted  this  position  and  began  active  work  October  1, 1909. 

Through  the  generosity  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  the  office  was 
financed  for  the  first  half  year  until  sufficient  funds  could  be  ac- 
cumulated from  other  sources  to  assure  its  permanency  and  suc- 
cess. 

During  the  last  half  year  generous  contributions  have  been  re- 
ceived from  Julius  Eosenwald,  Henry  P.  Crowell,  W.  D.  Allen, 
Adolf  Kraus,  Harold  Swift,  John  Stuart,  Clifford  W.  Barnes, 
John  B.  Lord,  the  White  Slave  Traffic  Committee  of  the  League 
of  Cook  County  Clubs,  The  Society  of  B  'nai  B  'rith  and  others, 
which  have  aided  your  Committee  in  maintaining  and  support- 
ing this  office. 

The  Chicago  papers  without  exception  have  given  our  office  ex- 
cellent support  and  we  should  be  indeed  grateful  for  the  firm 
stand  they  have  taken  in  backing  the  fight  against  the  traffic  in 
girls,  both  through  their  news  and  editorial  columns. 

Also  permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  assistance  public 
officials  have  given  this  office.  Following  the  direction  of  your 
Committee  our  detectives  aid  the  police  department  in  appre- 
hending those  operating  and  connected  with  the  traffic  in  girls. 
The  office  prepares  cases  for  trial  and  when  possible  assists  the 
State 's  Attorney  and  the  United  States  District  Attorney  in  the 
prosecution  of  offenders.  In  carrying  out  this  work  LeRoy  T. 
Steward,  General  Superintendent  of  Police,  John  E.  W.  Way- 
man,  State's  Attorney,  and  Edwin  W.  Sims,  United  States  Dis- 
trict Attorney,  have  especially  aided  in  every  way  possible  and 
have  extended  this  office  many  valuable  courtesies. 

In  calling  your  attention  to  present  conditions  let  me  say  that 
Illinois  was  the  first  state  to  adopt  a  "pandering  law"  and  Chi- 


194  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

cago  is  to  be  congratulated  that  it  is  the  first  city  to  look  the 
situation  squarely  in  the  face  and  make  a  determined,  business- 
like fight  against  pandering. 

Pandering,  of  course,  means  the  procuring  of  females  for 
disreputable  resorts. 

It  is  my  belief  that  the  morals  and  best  interests  of  the  city 
are  being  protected  by  our  efforts;  that  the  city  is  rapidly  be- 
coming one  of  the  cleanest  cities  in  America ;  that  this  cleaning 
out  of  panders  will  assure  safety  to  women  and  girls  visiting 
the  city  or  coming  here  to  find  a  home.  While  the  number  of 
cases  given  below  will  surprise  many  people  it  should  also  be 
remembered  that  the  operations  of  our  detectives  have  fright- 
ened many  girl  traders  so  that  they  have  fled  from  the  city,  we 
hope  to  stay. 

In  round  numbers  it  is  estimated  that  about  one  thousand 
such  persons  have  left  Chicago  during  the  year  past. 

This  office  has  investigated  three  hundred  and  forty-eight 
cases  during  the  year  ending  October  1,  1910,  and  from  that 
number  of  investigations  this  office  has  brought  into  Court  nine- 
ty-seven cases  which  involved  in  some  way  the  procurement  of 
sale  of  girls  for  disreputable  resorts,  and  of  these  ninety-seven 
cases  this  office  has  successfully  prosecuted  or  aided  in  the 
successful  proescution  of  ninety-one  cases. 

Also,  by  reason  of  these  investigations,  many  girls  have  been 
found  and  rescued  from  practical  slavery  when  those  who  pro- 
cured them  have  not  been  apprehended  or  the  evidence  was  not 
sufficiently  strong  to  convict  the  keepers  of  the  resorts. 

Many  arrests  not  mentioned  below  have  been  made  where  the 
defendants  forfeited  their  bonds  and  ran  away,  or  the  girls  who 
were  to  be  witnesses  have  been  spirited  from  the  city. 

Cases  which  appeared  to  be  pandering  cases  were  often  dis- 
posed of  under  other  charges  either  because  it  was  thought  best 
for  the  girls  involved  or  because  witnesses  were  spirited  away 
or  intimidated  so  that  a  pandering  charge  would  not  be  proved. 

It  has  been  our  privilege  to  find  scores  of  girls  who  had  mys- 
teriously disappeared.  While  we  regret  that  in  many  cases  we 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  195 

could  not  catch  the  panders,  it  has  been  a  pleasure  to  restore 
such  girls  to  their  parents  and  relatives. 

As  an  instance  of  the  many  letters  of  gratitude  we  receive  is 
the  following : 

October  18, 1910. 
Mr.  Eoe : 

In  am  indeed  very  thankful  to  you  for  the  good  you  have  done 
for  my  daughter  Irene.  We  are  indeed  very  happy  over  the  way 
it  came  out  and  we  owe  you  more  than  we  can  pay,  so  please 
accept  our  humble  thanks. 

Wishing  you  and  your  fellow  officers  success  and  happiness  I 
remain,  yours, 

Ever  grateful, 

Mrs.  P.  G. 

No. Vincennes  Ave. 

Council  Bluffs,  Iowa. 

Dear  Sir: 

I  thank  you  f  OA%  your  kindness. 

I  certainly  did  not  understand  what  happened  in  Chicago. 
Why  did  they  think  I  was  so  mysterious  as  it  read  in  the  papers  ? 

I  have  read  your  book  and  only  hope  it  will  help  others  who 
read  it.  I  was  so  interested  in  it.  I  would  not  talk  to  anyone 
until  I  was  through  reading  it,  because  I  knew  it  must  be  the 
truth. 

Hoping  God  will  give  you  the  power  to  help  others  as  you  help 
me. 

I  give  my  best  wishes  to  all. 

Yours  truly, 

VIOLET. 

Such  letters  of  gratitude  are  certainly  monuments  to  our 
work  and  if  we  did  nothing  but  find  girls  who  have  been  pro- 
cured and  restore  them  to  their  families  the  work  would  indeed 
be  worth  while.  However,  the  following  cases  will  show  we 
have  gone  much  further  and  prosecuted  the  panders  and  girl 
traffickers. 


196  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

PANDERING  CASES  TRIED  SINCE  OCTOBER  1,  1909. 

Not  all  the  prosecutions  and  convictions  are  included  in  this 
list. 

Mollie  Hart,  alias  Fern — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer. 
Sentence  six  months  and  fine  $300.00,  October  11,  1909.  One  of 
the  Chicago-St.  Louis  gang  bringing  girls  to  Chicago  from  St. 
Louis  upon  promise  of  employment. 

Albert  Hopper — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer.  Sentence 
ten  months  and  $300.00  fine,  October  2,  1909.  Also  engaged  in 
bringing  girls  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago  to  be  sold  into  dis- 
reputable resorts. 

Michael  Hart — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer.  Sentence  ten 
months  and  $300.00  fine,  October  30,  1909.  Another  member  of 
the  Chicago-St.  Louis  group  of  girl  slave  traders. 

Lawrence  De  Mas — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer.  Sentence 
nine  months  and  $300.00  fine,  October  30,  1909.  Sold  Lillian 
into  disorderly  resort. 

David  Garfinkle  of  St.  Louis, — Pandering — Judge  Going. 
Sentence  six  months  and  $300.00  fine,  November  18,  1909.  St. 
Louis  agent  of  Chicago-St.  Louis  crowd.  Convicted  in  Chicago. 

William  Degman — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer.  Sentence 
six  months  and  $300.00  fine  November  5, 1909.  Sold  wife  Annie 
Degman  into  a  West  Side  resort. 

Thoman  England,  Jr. — Pandering — Judge  Stewart.  Sen- 
tence one  year  and  $600.00  fine  November  16,  1909.  Sold  Marie 
into  South  Chicago  resort. 

John  Paul — Pandering — Judge  Stewart.  Sentence  one  year 
and  $600.00  fine.  Aided  in  same  case.  Girl  brought  from  In- 
diana upon  promise  of  employment.  November  16  ,1909. 

Maurice  Van  Bever — Pandering — Judge  Edwin  K.  Walker. 
Sentence  one  year  and  $1,000  fine,  November,  1909.  Head  of 
Chicago-St.  Louis  gang  of  procurers.  Owner  of  two  resorts. 

Julia  Van  Bever — Pandering — Judge  Edwin  K.  Walker. 
Sentence  one  year  and  $1,000.00  fine,  November,  1909.  Con- 
ducted White  Slave  headquarters  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  gang. 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  197 

Paul  Auer — Another  member  of  Chicago-St.  Louis  gang. 
Manager  for  the  Van  Bevers,  forfeited  his  bonds  and  ran  away, 
November,  1909. 

Dick  Tyler — Another  member  same  gang.  Also  ran  away, 
forfeiting  his  bonds,  November,  1909. 

Robert  Heiley — Pandering— Judge  Going.  Sentence  six 
months  and  $300.00  fine,  December  10,  1909.  Procured  Ethel 
-  for  disreputable  resort. 

Joe  Bovo — Pandering — Judge  Going.  Sentence  six  months 
and  $300.00  fine,  December  24,  1909.  Home,  defendant,  St. 
Louis.  Brought  girls  from  St.  Louis. 

Frank  Whitacre — Pandering — Judge  Going.  Court  directed 
verdict  for  defendant  in  pandering  case  and  fined  him  $50.00 
and  costs  on  disorderly  charge,  January  5  and  6,  1910. 

Eichard  Dorsey — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer.  Sentence 
six  months  and  fine  $300.00  and  costs,  January  5,  1910.  Pro- 
cured girls  for  disreputable  resort  in  South  Chicago. 

Andrew  Lietke,  alias  Andy  Eyan — Pandering — Judge  New- 
comer. Sentence  six  months  and  fine  $300.00  and  costs,  Jan- 
uary 5,  1910. 

Clarence  Gentry — Pandering — Judge  Going.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00  and  costs,  January  28,  1910.  Brought 
girl  from  Nashville,  Tenn.,  for  disreputable  resort. 

Frank  Merson — Procuring — Judge  McEwen.  Found  guilty 
January  17,  1910.  Brought  girl  from  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Frank  Eomano — Pandering — Judge  Fake.  Sentence  one 
year  and  fine  $1,000,  January  12,  1910.  Procured  girls  for  dis- 
reputable resort  on  South  Clark  Street. 

Clara  Klein — Pandering — Judge  Fake.  Sentence  one  year 
and  fine  $1,000,  January  12,  1910. 

Antonio  Colufiore — Pandering — Judge  Fake.  Sentence  one 
year  and  fine  $1,000,  January  12,  1910. 

Maud  Woods — Harboring  girl  under  eighteen  years — Indicted 
—Fled  city.  For  procuring  girl  for  Maud  Woods '  resort  Clar- 
ence Gentry  was  convicted  January  28, 1910. 


198  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

Louis  Fleming — Pandering — Judge  Going.  Sentence  one  year 
and  fine  $800.00,  March  29,  1910.  Defendant  caught  in  Flint, 
Mich.  Married  girl  and  sold  her  into  disreputable  resort. 

Mertil  Anderson — Pandering — Judge  Fake.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  March  26, 1910. 

Harry  Cusack  and  Tom  Owens — Pandering — Judge  Going. 
Jury  found  both  men  not  guilty,  March  31, 1910.  Albert  Hopper, 
convicted  October  21,  1909,  later  accused  Cusack  and  Owens  of 
employing  him  to  procure  girls  for  their  resort. 

William  Dukes — Pandering — Judge  Gemmill.  Sentence  one 
year  and  fine  $800.00,  April  30,  1910. 

Ealph  Armond — Pandering — Judge  Going.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  April  8,  1910. 

Albert  Huth — Pandering — Judge  Edwin  K.  Walker.  Sen- 
tence six  months  and  fine  $300.00,  April  18, 1910. 

Peter  Bernard — Pandering  and  Adultery — Judge  Himes. 
Sentence  an  adultery  charge,  six  months,  March  4, 1910. 

J.  T.  Mehl — Pandering — Judge  Uhlir.  Sentence  six  months 
and  fine  $300.00,  May  9,  1910.  Caught  in  Iowa.  Sold  girl  to 
West  Side  resort. 

Harry  Cohen — Pandering — Judge  Dicker.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  May  18,  1910.  Brought  girl  from  New 
York  for  South  Chicago  resort. 

Ben  Wagner — Pandering — Judge  Dicker.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  May  20,  1910.  Married  girl  and  sold 
her  into  resort. 

Abe  Greenberg — Pandering — Judge  Dicker.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  May  20,  1910. 

Sophronia  Lebeau — Pandering — Arrested  May  23,  1910. 
Federal  case,  transferred  to  United  States  Court.  Set  for  Oc- 
tober term.  Accused  of  bringing  Adrienne  Gingres  from  Can- 
ada for  resort. 

Battisti  Pizzi — Pandering — Judge  Edwin  K.  Walker.  Sen- 
tence nine  months  and  fine  $1,000,  June  3,  1910.  Owner  of 
White  Slave  resort  and  procurer.  For  bringing  girls  to  this  re- 
sort, Alphonse  Citro  was  convicted  in  January,  1909,  and  Frank 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  199 

Romano,  Clara  Klein  and  Antonio  Colufiore  were  convicted  Jan- 
uary 12, 1910. 

William  Kanouse — Pandering — Judge  Gemmill.  Sentence 
one  year  and  fine  $300.00,  June  21, 1910.  Married  girl  17  years 
old  and  sold  her  to  Armour  Avenue  resort. 

William  A.  Eautenberg — Pandering — Judge  Scoville.  Sen- 
tence one  year  and  fine  $1,000,  June  10,  1910.  Brought  back 
from  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 

Frank  Arnell — Pandering — Judge  Edwin  K.  Walker.  Sen- 
tence six  months  and  fine  $300.00,  July  9,  1910. 

Max  Glasser — Pandering — Judge  Uhlir.  Sentence  six  months 
and  fine  $300.00,  July  13,  1910. 

Charles  Yon — Pandering — Judge  Torrison.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  August  4,  1910. 

Howard  Paden — Pandering — Judge  Newcomer.  Sentence 
six  months  and  fine  $300.00  August,  18,  1910. 

Michael  Stein — Pandering — Judge  Blake.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  August  26,  1910. 

Bruno  Wozniak — Pandering — Judge  Maxwell.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  August  31,  1910. 

Albert  Skirpon — Pandering — Judge  Maxwell.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  August  26,  1910.  Sold  wife,  Hattie 
Skirpon,  into  West  Side  resort. 

Louis  Degestro — Pandering — Judge  Bruggemeyer.  Sentence 
one  year  and  fine  $300.00,  September  27,  1910. 

Thomas  Eich,  alias  Thomas  Deluage — Pandering — Judge1 
Bruggemeyer.  Sentence  six  months  and  fine  $300.00,  September 
28,  1910.  Defendant  wanted  since  March  2,  1910.  Arrested  Sep- 
tember 27,  1910.  Member  same  crowd  as  Ealph  Armond,  con- 
victed April  8,  1910. 

Albert  Wagner — Pandering — Judge  Going.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  October  22,  1910. 

Paul  Schoop — Pandering  and  Crime  Against  Public  Morals 
—Judge  Blake.  Fine  $200.00  and  costs,  November  4,  1910. 

George  Hirsch — Pandering — Judge  Torrison.  Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00,  November  17,  1910, 


200  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

Harry  Frank — Pandering — Judge  Torrison.  Sentence  one 
year  and  fine  $1,000.00,  November  18,  1910. 

Luella  Williams,  alias  Thomas — Pandering — Judge  Going. 
Sentence  six  months  and  fine  $300.00,  November  23,  1910. 

Sylvester  J.  Thomas — Fornication — Judge  Bruggemeyer. 
Sentence  thirty  days  county  jail,  November  23,  1910.  Lived 
with  Luella  Williams  (above  case). 

Walter  B.  Olson — Fornication — Judge  Bruggemeyer.  Fine 
$50.00  and  costs,  November  28,  1910.  Katherine  -  — ,  17 

years  old,  sent  to  Juvenile  Court. 

Frank  De  Steffano  arrested  with  brother  Angelo  for  bring- 
ing Margaret from  Buffalo,  New  York.  Transferred  to 

United  States  Court.  Frank  De  Steffano  fined  $50.00,  Decem- 
ber, 1910. 

Joshua  0.  Keller — Crime  Against  Public  Morals — Judge 
Newcomer — Plea  of  Guilty — Fine  $25.00  and  costs,  December  5, 
1910. 

Helen  Weiss — Contributing  to  Child  Delinquency — Judge 

Himes.  Aided  in  procuring  Emily  0 from  Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin.  Fine  $150.00  and  costs,  December  16,  1910. 

Julia  Van  Bever — Crime  Against  Public  Morals — Judge 
Bruggemeyer.  Aided  in  procuring  Pearl  S—  -  from  St. 
Louis.  Fine  $25.00  and  costs,  December  2,  1910. 

Julia  Van  Bever  and  Maurice  Van  Bever  sentenced  in  No- 
vember, 1909,  were  out  on  bond  pending  decision  in  Supreme 
Court  of  Illinois.  Both  sent  to  House  of  Correction  for  one 
year  each,  and  pay  $1,000.00  and  costs,  in  February,  1911. 

Harry  Jocker — Pandering — Judge  Himes — Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $500.00,  December  31,  1910. 

Jessie  Frazier — Jocker 's  accomplice — Contributing  to  Child 
Delinquency — Judge  Himes — Fine  $100  and  costs,  December  31, 
1910. 

Harry  Smith,  alias  Lasher — Pandering — Judge  Himes — 

Hazel  M refused  to  testify  against  Smith.  Charge  changed 

to  Disorderly  Conduct — Fine  $10.00  and  costs,  December  14, 
1910, 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  201 

Bernard  Rosenberg — Crime  Against  Public  Morals — Judge 

Newcomer — Brought  Florence and  Maude from 

New  York— Fine  $200.00  and  costs,  January  4, 1911. 

Albert  Goodman — same  as  Bernard  Eosenberg  above. 

Mary  Adams — Pandering — Judge  Going — Sentence  nine 
months  and  fine  $500  and  costs.  January  19,  1911.  Procured 
Welma  H . 

Adam  Lewichi — Pandering — Judge  Fry — Jury  disagreed 
January  10,  1911.  Plea  of  Guilty  to  Crime  Against  Public 
Morals— Fine  $200.00  and  costs,  March  8,  1911.  Owned  house 
Mary  Adams  procured  girls  for. 

Helen  Blewski — Keeper  Lewichi  ?s  house — Judge  Fry — Fine 
$50.00  and  costs. 

Martin  Flannery — Pandeiring — Judge  Going — Sentence  one 
year  and  fine  $500.00  and  costs,  January  17,  1911. 

Margaret  Douglas,  keeper,  Etta  Dixon,  Opal  Ford,  Daisy 
Eedd  and  Lena  Johnson,  inmates,  Crime  Against  Nature — 
Judge  Newcomer — All  held  to  Grand  Jury,  February  3,  1911. 

Floyd  Williams — Pandering — Judge  Himes — Sentence  six 

months  and  fine  $300.00  and  costs.  Procured  Freida  

from  Michigan. 

Eichard  Nugent — accomplice — fine  $50.00  and  costs,  February 
15,  1911. 

Walter  S.  Eadies — Contributing  to  Child  Delinquency — Judge 
Newcomer— Fine  $364.00  and  costs,  February  23,  1911.  Col- 
lecteci  earnings  of  wife  in  house  of  ill  fame. 

Sigmund  Gudell— Pandering— Judge  Sabath— Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300  and  costs,  February  10,  1911.  Procured 
two  girls. 

John  Nelson — Pandering — Judge  Sabath — Sentence  six 
months  and  fine  $300.00  and  costs,  February  10, 1911.  Same  as 
above. 

Joe  Buckley — Pandering — Judge  Himes — Put  wife  in  house. 
Wife  refused  to  testify.  Charge  changed  to  Disorderly  Con- 
duct—Fine $25.00  and  costs,  February  20,  1911. 


202  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

William  Hutchinson — Contributing  to  Child  Delinquency — 
Judge  Scully — Sentence  one  year  and  fine  $200.00  and  costs, 

March  24,  1911.    Procured  Wilma for  immoral  life  in  St. 

Louis,  Missouri,  and  Chicago.    Girl  sent  to  Juvenile  Court. 

To  the  casual  observer  some  of  these  fines  and  sentences  may 
look  small,  yet  it  should  be  considered  that  under  the  Illinois 
Pandering  Law  the  maximum  sentence  is  one  year  and  a  fine  of 
One  Thousand  Dollars.  If  it  cannot  be  proved  that  the  girls 
were  put  in  houses  of  ill-fame,  but  were  procured  for  lives  of 
shame  otherwise,  the  only  charge  under  the  Illinois  law  ap- 
plicable is  Crime  Against  Public  Morals  in  which  the  maximum 
penalty  is  a  fine  of  Two  Hundred  Dollars,  unless  the  girls  are 
under  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  when  the  charge  may  be  made 
Contributing  to  Child  Delinquency. 

In  one  way  the  crime  not  being  a  felony  in  Illinois  has  brought 
about  quicker  convictions,  as  it  was  not  necessary  to  have  an  in- 
dictment by  the  Grand  Jury,  which  is  usually  a  slow  process, 
and  in  the  meantime  witnesses  are  often  intimidated  or  spirited 
away.  It  must  be  remembered  also  that  Illinois  was  the 
pioneer  state  to  legislate  against  the  panders,  and  public  senti- 
ment was  not  so  strong  against  this  crime  as  it  is  now.  How- 
ever, as  will  be  seen  in  Chapter  twenty-four,  a  higher  penalty 
in  Illinois  is  forthcoming. 

While  all  these  prosecutions  were  being  instituted  in  Chicago, 
the  people  were  being  aroused  by  lectures  and  pamphlets. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  Committee  composed  of  some  of 
Chicago's  leading  business  men  to  make  sensational  raids. 
Neither  is  it  the  purpose  to  fight  the  poor  forlorn  girls  who 
have  become  hardened  to  the  life  of  shame,  rather  is  it  the  pur- 
pose to  systematically  and  thoroughly  cut  off  the  supply  of  girls 
being  recruited  for  immoral  lives,  thereby  reducing  prostitu- 
tion to  a  minimum.  Then  the  recruits  will  be  only  those  who 
seek  such  lives  of  their  own  free  will.  It  is  hoped  that  in  time 
the  latter  will  be  greatly  reduced  by  a  campaign  of  education, 
raising  the  standard  of  morals  and  cultivating  pure  characters. 


MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO  203 

All  this  will  be  accomplished  only  when  all  society  everywhere 
joins  in  the  plan  for  moral  uplift. 

The  Committee  is  permanent,  receiving  excellent  financial 
support.  That  is  the  unique  feature.  The  denizens  of  the 
underworld  and  white  slave  traders  have  come  to  realize  that 
this  is  not  a  momentary  outburst  of  indignation,  accompanied 
by  useless  resolutions  condemning  white  slavery,  but  an  ever 
present  battering  ram  gradually  and  surely  piercing  through 
their  fortress  of  vice.  The  walls  are  falling  and  soon  the 
foundation  will  be  undermined. 

In  the  past  these  people  only  laughed  at  storms  of  protests 
and  ministerial  indignation  meetings.  They  knew  they  could 
weather  the  storm  which  would  soon  blow  over.  But  now  they 
are  face  to  face  with  a  practical,  well  planned  war  of  years,  if 
necessary,  backed  by  more  money  and  influence  than  they  can 
ever  secure.  They  have  spent  thousands  of  dollars  fighting, 
and  now  they  are  slowly  giving  up  in  despair,  many  of  them, 
financially  ruined.  THIS  IS  THE  MESSAGE  FROM  CHI- 
CAGO. ENTER  THE  FIGHT  AGAINST  THE  WHITE 
SLAVE  TRADERS  IN  A  PRACTICAL  SANE  MANNER. 
IT  WILL  BE  A  LONG  CAMPAIGN,  BUT  IT  IS  WORTH 
WHILE  FROM  A  MORAL  AND  BUSINESS  VIEW  POINT. 

Vice  hurts  the  reputation  of  a  city.  No  longer  is  Chicago  a 
trading  center  for  white  slaves.  Chicago  is  proud  to  send  out 
the  message  that  soon  its  streets  will  be  safe  for  your  daughters 
where  no  pander  roams  around  seeking  victims. 

Chicago  says,  send  your  daughters  there  to  shop  and  attend 
its  schools  and  colleges,  they  will  not  be  molested  by  the  white 
slave  procurers. 

Bring  your  families  and  rear  them  where  white  slavery  is 
no  more,  and  vice  is  reduced  to  the  minimum. 

Chicago  believes  that  is  good  business  enterprise.  What  do 
you  think  of  it,  sister  cities  of  the  world?  If  this  message 
appeals  to  you — get  busy. 

The  Committee  is  fighting  the  supply — white  slavery.  Other 
organizations  are  fighting  vice.  Mayor  Busse  of  Chicago  ap- 


204  MESSAGE  FROM  CHICAGO 

pointed  a  Vice  Commision  to  inquire  into  vice  conditions  in  gen- 
eral, and  make  recommendations  for  civic  moral  betterment,  and 
the  chairman  of  this  Commission  is  Dean  Walter  T.  Sumner,  of 
the  Cathedral  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  who  has  since  the  year  1908 
made  a  study  of  vice  conditions  in  the  west  side  levee  district. 
This  is  all  a  part  of  the  Chicago  campaign.  The  Committee  has 
recommended  the  abolition  of  segregated  vice  districts  and  has 
discovered  awful  conditions  to  exist,  but  Chicago  is  equal  to  the 
task  of  cleaning  them  out. 

WOMEN  IN  THE  FIGHT. 

The  most  significant  phase  of  Chicago's  campaign  to  clean 
up,  is  the  part  the  women  have  taken.  The  League  of  Cook 
County  Woman's  Clubs,  comprising  over  seventy  clubs,  includ- 
ing the  Chicago  Woman's  Club,  have  organized  a  White  Slave 
Traffic  Committee.  The  chairman  is  Mrs.  Freeman  E.  Brown, 
and  she  is  devoting  a  large  share  of  her  time  to  this  work,  lectur- 
ing and  circulating  literature,  and  under  her  able  leadership  this 
women's  committee  has  greatly  aided  the  men's  committee. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  set  forth  here  all  the  agencies  that 
have  united  forces  and  are  co-operating  in  this  wonderful  move- 
ment for  a  purer  and  better  Chicago,  so  many  and  so  important 
are  they  all. 

The  work  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  League,  the  influence  of 
Miss  Jane  Addams,  the  aid  given  by  the  Women's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  and  scores  of  other  organizations  and  per- 
sons, are  contributing  to  this  great  plan  for  a  greater  Chicago. 
Thus  the  war  for  civic  righteousness  is  on.  Each  day  new 
battles  are  won.  Chicago  is  proud  of  its  achievements  in  de- 
throning the  king  of  vice — white  slavery — no  longer  does  the 
market  where  girls'  souls  are  bought  and  sold  flourish,  and  the 
awful  exposition  of  vice  will  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 

This  is  the  White  Slave  Message  from  Chicago, 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PROCURING  AND  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK. 

By  Honorable  James  Bronson  Reynolds,  Assistant  District  Attorney,  County  of 

New  York,  New  York  City. 

Note:  Appointed  as  a  Special  Commissioner  by  President  Theodore  Roosevelt 
to  investigate  the  traffic  in  girls  and  women,  Mr.  Reynolds  has  made  careful  in- 
vestigations on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Coasts  of  the  United  States  and  also  in 
Panama,  China  and  Japan,  and  today  he  is  one  of  the  best  informed  men  in  Amer- 
ica upon  the  subject. 

The  only  investigation  of  prostitution  and  its  allied  evils  made 
in  any  American  city  and  having  any  claim  to  thoroughness  was 
undertaken  under  the  direction  of  William  W.  Sanger,  M.  D.,  in 
New  York  City  in  1855-1857.*  Because  of  its  completeness  the 
most  important  results  of  the  investigation  may  be  profitably 
summarized.  The  complete  and  elaborate  schedules  used  would 
have  constituted  a  valuable  public  record,  but  unfortunately, 
they  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1858. 

Out  of  two  thousand  prostitutes  who  answered  the  question: 
"How  old  will  you  be  next  birthday  1"  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
stated  they  were  under  twenty;  one  thousand  and  seven  that 
they  were  between  twenty  and  thirty,  the  remaining  two  hun- 
dred and  forty- three  admitted  being  over  thirty;  of  the  latter 
one  hundred  and  seventy-two  were  between  thirty  and  forty, 
forty-four  between  forty  and  fifty,  twenty-one  between  fifty  and 
sixty,  and  six  between  sixty  and  seventy.  One  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifty-seven,  or  seven-eighths  were  therefore  under 
thirty  years  of  age,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight,  or  seven-tenths  under  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  two 
hundred  and  twenty-four,  or  about  one-ninth  under  eighteen,  the 
age  of  consent  in  the  most  progressive  states  of  this  country. 

"History  of  Prostitution"  by  W.  W.  Sanger,  M.  D.,  with  numerous  editorial 
notes  and  appendix.    Published  by  the  American  Medical  Press,  New  York,  1895. 

205 


206  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK 

Seven  hundred  and  sixty-two  out  of  two  thousand  prostitutes 
were  born  in  the  United  States,  and  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  were  born  abroad.  In  other  words,  about  three- 
eighths  were  native  born,  and  five-eighths  foreign  born.  Of  the 
foreign  born  prostitutes  seven  hundred  and  six  were  from  Ire- 
land, 249  from  Germany,  104  from  England,  63  from  Canada 
and  52  from  Scotland,  while  but  two  were  from  Austria  and 
1  from  Italy.  411  of  the  foreign  born  prostitutes  stated  that 
they  came  to  this  country  to  better  their  condition.  The  result 
was  a  pitiable  travesty  of  their  hopes. 

521  of  the  two  thousand  could  neither  read  nor  write,  219  could 
only  read,  546  could  only  read  and  write  imperfectly.  Hence 
nearly  two-thirds  were  illiterate  or  semi-illiterate. 

1216  were  single,  490  married  and  274  widowed.  Of  the  mar- 
ried prostitutes,  71  were  living  with  their  husbands,  while  103 
had  separated  from  their  husbands  on  account  of  ill-usage,  103 
had  been  deserted  by  their  husbands  and  45  had  left  their  hus- 
bands on  account  of  the  intemperance  of  the  latter.  Of  the 
widowed,  the  husbands  of  19  had  been  dead  less  than  8  months, 
and  of  22  only  a  year. 

Of  the  prostitutes  having  children,  73  had  their  children  living 
with  them,  and  247  had  the  children  boarding  at  the  mother's  ex- 
pense. 

The  health  statistics  were  undoubtedly  incomplete,  but  821 
out  of  2000  admitted  that  they  had  had  gonorrhoea  or  syphilis 
or  both.  As  to  the  causes  assigned  for  their  becoming  prosti- 
tutes, 513  frankly  avowed  inclination,  525  alleged  destitution, 
258  seduction  and  abandonment,  181  drink,  164  the  ill  treat- 
ment of  near  relatives,  and  124  admitted  that  they  chose  prosti- 
tution '  '  as  an  easy  life. ' ' 

In  answer  to  the  question  as  to  previous  occupation,  933  said 
they  had  been  servants,  285  skilled  or  unskilled  seamstresses,  and* 
499  had  lived  with  parents  or  friends ;  the  remaining  283  were  in 
miscellaneous  occupations.  Their  earnings  at  their  previous 
trades  are  significant  and  suggestive.  534  had  averaged  earn- 
ings of  one  dollar  per  week,  336  two  dollars,  230  three  dollars 


PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK  207 

and  127  four  dollars,  while  only  7  had  been  receiving  over  7  dol- 
lars per  week. 

994  admitted  drinking  to  excess,  and  596  that  their  fathers  and 
347  that  their  mothers  drank  excessively.  960  were  of  Protes- 
tant and  977  of  Catholic  parentage.  While  1909  of  the  2000  pro- 
fessed the  religion  of  the  parents ;  only  91  professed  no  religion. 

As  to  the  total  number  of  prostitutes  in  1857  it  was  assumed 
that  the  2000  who  answered  were  about  one-third  of  the  ag- 
gregate number  in  the  city,  though  the  Chief  of  Police  in  1856 
estimated  the  total  number  of  prostitutes  as  not  more  than 
5000.  The  author  justified  his  own  estimate  by  the  statement 
that  the  hard  times  of  1857  drove  at  least  a  thousand  more  into 
prostitution  as  a  livelihood. 

Dr.  Sanger  stated  that  in  New  York  City  the  total  amount  of 
capital  invested  in  prostitution  was  nearly  $4,000,000  and  that  the 
amount  of  expenditure  yearly  was  over  $7,000,000.  Accord- 
ing to  police  reports  there  were  378  houses  of  prostitution,  89 
houses  of  assignation  and  151  dancing  halls,  saloons  and  kindred 
places  where  prostitutes  congregated.  That  the  above  facts  and 
figures  may  be  understood  in  their  proper  relations  to  the  size 
of  the  city,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  United  States  Census  for 
1850  gave  the  population  for  the  city  as,  515,547,  and  the  New 
York  Census  for  1855  gave  the  population  as  629,904,  an  average 
of  about  1  to  108  inhabitants. 

In  Dr.  Sangers '  otherwise  able  and  thorough  treatment  of  the 
subject  there  is  a  striking  lack  of  any  serious  consideration  of 
procuring  or  of  any  of  the  commercial  aspects  of  vice,  at  pres- 
ent so  much  under  discussion. 

The  next  investigation  of  importance  was  made  by  the  Metro- 
politan Board  of  Police  and  Board  of  Health  of  New  York  in 
1867.  It  was  in  response  to  a  request  from  the  State  Assembly 
"to  furnish  to  this  House,  at  their  earliest  convenience,  their 
opinion  as  to  the  necessity  and  the  probable  result  of  legisla- 
tion looking  to  the  more  thorough  restriction  of  prostitution  in 
the  city  of  New  York."  This  report  was  signed  by  3  physicians 
of  eminence  who  constituted  the  "Sanitary  Committee,"  the 


208  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK 

Police  Department  having  apparently  no  share  in  the  report  nor 
in  its  recommendations.  The  facts  stated  relate  almost  wholly 
to  the  diseases  which  result  from  prostitution. 

Instructive  are  the  statements  that  "high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  are  affected  by  venereal  diseases  and  no  class  has  a  mon- 
opoly of  virtue.  If  it  were  so,  the  moral  would  before  this 
have  exterminated  the  immoral.  *  *  * 

The  actual  and  important  fact  is  that  venereal  disease  is  sap- 
ping the  strength  of  the  people.  Husbands  give  it  to  their  wives, 
and  mothers  give  it  to  their  children ;  and  where  it  has  once  en- 
tered the  constitution,  no  one  can  tell  whether  it  ever  will  or  can 
be  eradicated.  *  *  *  The  question,  moreover,  is  not  a 
private  one,  but  of  great  political  importance;  for  the  health 
of  the  citizens  is  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  state. ' ' 

No  descriptions  of  conditions  nor  statistics  of  value  were 
given.  The  report  closed  with  recommendations  as  to  the  need 
of  hospitals  and  more  adequate  treatment  for  those  afflicted  with 
venereal  diseases. 

Neither  in  the  report  of  Dr.  Sanger  nor  in  that  of  the  San- 
itary Committee  do  social  and  economic  conditions  receive  spe- 
cial consideration,  nor  is  there  any  attempt  to  discover  whence 
the  army  of  prostitutes  comes.  A  serious  inquiry  regarding 
these  problems  appear  first  in  the  report  of  the  New  York  State 
Tenement  House  Commission  of  which  the  writer  was  a  mem- 
ber, appointed  by  the  Governor,  Theodore  Eoosevelt,  in  1900. 
The  menace  of  prostitution  in  the  tenement  houses  under  the 
then  existing  conditions  is  thus  described :  * 

"When  dissolute  women  enter  a  tenement  house  their  first 
effort  is  to  make  friends  with  the  children.  Children  have  been 
lured  into  their  rooms,  where  they  have  beheld  sights  from  which 
they  should  be  protected.  Frequently  these  women  engage  one 
family  in  the  tenement  to  do  their  laundry  work,  another  to  do 
their  cooking,  and  still  further  financial  arrangements  are  made 
with  the  housekeeper.  The  patronage  which  they  can  distribute 

"The  Tenement  House  Problem,"  edited  by  Robert  W.  DeForest  and  .Lawrence 
Veiller.  Published  by  The  Macmillan  Company,  1903,  Vol.  1,  p.  51. 


PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK  209 

is  thus  utilized  to  make  friends  and  to  purchase  the  silence  of 
those  who  might  otherwise  object  to  their  presence.  The  chil- 
dren of  respectable  families  are  often  sent  to  the  prostitutes 
on  various  errands,  and  because  of  the  gifts  made  to  the  chil- 
dren these  women  become  important  personages  in  the  house  and 
their  affairs  the  subject  of  frequent  conversation.  The  familiar- 
ity with  vice,  often  in  its  most  flagrant  forms,  possessed  by  very 
young  children  because  of  the  condition  just  described  has  pro- 
foundly impressed  the  Commission.  Several  physicians  have 
informed  us  that  though  they  as  children  had  lived  in  quarters 
of  the  city  where  prostitution  existed,  they  had  not  possessed 
a  tenth  of  the  knowledge  of  it  which  they  find  almost  universal 
among  tenement  house  children  of  the  present  day.  The  anx- 
iety of  reputable  parents  living  in  houses  upon  which  these 
harlots  have  descended  is  most  pitiful.  One  of  our  charity  work- 
ers stated  that  she  had  heard  women  living  in  tenement  houses 
thus  infected  bemoan  the  birth  of  a  daughter  because  of  their 
fear  of  the  dangers  to  which  she  would  be  exposed.  And  the 
same  worker  declared  that  scarcely  a  day  passed  that  some  wo- 
man did  not  confide  to  her  a  mother's  anxiety  and  despair  re- 
garding this  situation. 

But  it  is  not  the  children  alone  who  are  contaminated.  Boys 
and  young  men  living  in  the  tenement  houses  are  tempted,  and 
become  addicted  to  habits  of  immorality,  because  of  the  constant 
temptation  placed  before  them  almost  at  the  door  of  their  home. 
Still  more  distressing  is  the  condition  of  young  girls.  Such 
girls  are  often  working  in  difficult  situations  with  long  hours, 
small  pay,  and  hard  work.  When  they  return  to  their  homes 
tired  and  perhaps  discouraged  at  the  end  of  the  day's  toil,  they 
see  their  neighbors  living  lives  of  apparent  ease,  dressing  far 
better  than  they  can  afford  to  dress  on  their  limited  wages,  and 
showing  by  their  manner  that  they  feel  themselves  superior  to 
those  who  are  foolish  enough  to  toil  when  they  might  be  at 
leisure.  The  very  sight  of  this  contrast  with  their  own  condi- 
tion raises  despairing  questions,  disappointments  and  bitter- 
ness. After  the  shock  occasioned  by  the  knowledge  of  the  char- 


14 


210  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK 

acter  of  the  prostitutes  has  subsided,  as  it  inevitably  will,  if  the 
evil  is  encountered  daily,  the  girls  are  led  to  consider  seriously 
the  words  of  the  tempters.  The  fall  of  many  girls,  daughters 
of  honest  and  reputable  parents,  has,  undoubtedly,  been  due  to 
this  contamination. ' ' 

It  may  be  noted  that  allusion  is  here  made  to  the  evil  as  a 
traffic. 

In  1901  a  Citizens'  Committee,  known  as  "The  Committee  of 
Fifteen"  made  a  study  of  "the  Social  Evil,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  conditions  existing  in  the  city  of  New  York. ' '  Its  corps 
of  investigators  "collected  a  mass  of  information  and  evidence, 
a  part  of  which  was  utilized  in  bringing  some  of  the  offenders  to 
justice,  and  in  exposing  the  notorious  *  cadet  system.''  Its 
description  of  conditions  then  existing  begins  with  the  declara- 
tion that  "trading  in  vice  has  had  a  rapid  development  in  New 
York  City  within  the  last  few  years."  The  appearance  of  the 
"cadet"  is  noted  and  he  is  described  as  one  whose  "occupation 
is  professional  seduction." 

After  a  careful  review  of  prostitution  in  ancient  and  modern 
times  and  special  consideration  of  the  present  day  problems 
of  segregation  and  regulation,  the  recommendations  of  the  Com- 
mittee are  thus  summarized :  * 

'  *  The  better  housing  for  the  poor,  purer  forms  of  amusement, 
the  raising  of  the  condition  of  labor,  especially  of  female  labor, 
better  moral  education,  minors  more  and  more  withdrawn  from 
the  clutches  of  vice  by  means  of  reformatories,  the  spread  of 
contagion  checked  by  more  adequate  hospital  accommodations, 
the  evil  itself  unceasingly  condemned  by  public  opinion  as  a  sin 
against  morality,  and  punished  as  a  crime  with  stringent  pen- 
alties whenever  it  takes  the  form  of  a  public  nuisance : — these 
are  the  methods  of  dealing  with  it  upon  which  the  members  of 
the  Committee  have  united  and  from  which  they  hope  for  the 
abatement  of  some  of  the  worst  of  its  consequences  at  present, 


"The  Social  Evil.     A  report  prepared  under  the  direction  of  The  Committee  of 
Fifteen."    Published  by  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1902,  p.  179. 


PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK  211 

and  for  the  slow  and  gradual  restriction  of  its  scope  in  the 
future. 

In  addition,  we  would  recommend  the  creation  of  a  special 
body  of  morals  police,  analogous  to  the  sanitary  police  already 
existing,  selected  on  grounds  of  exceptional  judgment  and  fit- 
ness, to  whom  and  to  whom  alone  should  be  entrusted  the 
duties  of  surveillance  and  repression  contemplated  in  the  above 
recommendations. ' ' 

In  agreement  with  the  State  Commission  of  1900,  the  Commit- 
tee of  Fifteen  emphasized  social  conditions  and  social  remedies. 

In  agreement  with  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  and  the  State 
Tenement  House  Commission  of  1900,  a  State  Commission  of 
Immigration,  reporting  to  Governor  Charles  E.  Hughes,  1909, 
quoted  with  approval  from  the  report  of  the  Police  Commission- 
er for  1908,  as  follows :  * 

' t  This  traffic  is  found  to  be  of  large  dimensions.  There  seems 
to  be  very  slight  difficulty  in  getting  women  into  the  country. 
The  requirements  of  the  immigration  authorities  are  easily  met 
by  various  simple  subterfuges.  The  men  who  own  these  women 
are  of  the  lowest  class  and  seem  to  have  an  organization,  or  at 
least  an  understanding  which  is  national  or  even  international 
in  scope. " 

The  Commission  made  the  further  statement  as  to  conditions 
in  tenement  houses  : 

'  '  There  is  no  greater  menace  to  the  morality  of  aliens  than  the 
presence  of  disorderly  conditions  in  tenements.  In  the  city  of 
New  York  no  such  section  is  free  from  this  evil,  and  the  alien 
who  moves  into  a  tenement  today  may  find  tomorrow  that  his 
neighbor  is  a  disorderly  person.  Having  few  resources,  and 
being  unfamiliar  with  the  city,  the  tenant  must  tolerate  these 
conditions.  Although  these  have  much  improved,  conditions 
in  some  neighborhoods  largely  inhabited  by  aliens,  continue  a 
source  of  contamination  to  them  and  their  children.  An  exam- 
ination of  the  Tenement  House  Department  records  shows  that 
in  1907  there  were  186  complaints,  and  in  1908,  227  complaints 


*  "Report  of  the  Commission  of  Immigration  of  the  State  of  New  York,  1908." 


212  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK 

against  the  owners  of  tenements  in  which  disorderly  conditions 
prevailed. ' ' 

The  most  recent  investigation  of  the  evils  of  immorality  in 
New  York  City  is  contained  in  the  "Presentment  of  the  Ad- 
ditional Grand  Jury  for  the  January  Term  of  the  Court  of  Gen- 
eral Sessions  in  the  County  of  New  York,  in  the  matter  of  the 
investigation  as  to  the  alleged  existence  in  the  County  of  New 
York  of  an  organized  traffic  in  women  for  immoral  purposes. ' ' 
Its  subject  in  brief  was  the  white  slave  traffic.  Under  its  fore- 
man, John  D.  Eockefeller,  Jr.,  the  investigation  lasted  nearly 
six  months.  During  that  period  it  found  54  indictments ;  22  for 
rape,  16  for  abduction,  10  for  maintaining  disorderly  houses  and 
6  for  violation  of  the  law  against  compulsory  prostitution  of 
women.  Twenty-six  indictments  resulted  in  convictions,  eleven  in 
acquittals,  thirteen  in  discharges,  two  of  these  discharges  follow- 
ing disagreement  by  the  jury  and  two  following  an  order  of  new 
trial  by  the  higher  court.  Three  defendants  avoided  arrest  and 
one  jumped  bail.  In  two  of  the  cases  the  jury  disagreed.  The 
findings  of  the  Grand  Jury  as  to  conditions  in  New  York  will 
be  found  in  Chapter  Fourteen. 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  set  forth  conditions  in  re- 
lation to  prostitution  and  particularly  in  relation  to  the  so- 
called  white  slave  traffic.  But  its  aim  is  also  to  arouse  all  right 
minded  persons  to  oppose  existing  evils  in  the  confidence  that 
the  conditions  out  of  which  they  arise  may  be  greatly  improved 
if  those  who  abhor  them  will  work  as  skillfully  and  unitedly  to 
that  end  as  thos'e  who  have  produced  them  are  working  for  their 
maintenance.  Eeference  therefore  may  properly  be  made  to  a 
most  valuable  study  of  law  enforcement  in  relation  to  the  social 
evil  by  the  Eesearch  Committee  of  the  Committee  of  Fourteen.  * 

This  Committee  was  organized  to  suppress  the  so-called 
Eaines-Law  Hotels  in  New  York,  a  large  proportion  of  which  has 
been  shown  to  be  merely  house  of  assignation.  The  Committee 


*  "The  Social  Evil  in  New  York  Oty.  A  Study  of  Law  Enforcement,"  by  The 
Research  Committee  of  the  Committee  of  Fourteen.  New  York,  Andrew  H.  Kel- 
logg Co.,  1910. 


PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK  213 

found  "obvious  defects  and  inequalities'  in  the  forty- two  state 
laws  and  municipal  charter  provisions  and  ordinances  relating  to 
the  social  evil.  It  urged  the  simplification  of  the  laws,  their  better 
enforcement  and  the  appointment  of  abler  officers  to  secure  that 
end.  The  Committee  stated  that  "it  is  entirely  possible  prac- 
tically to  rid  our  streets  and  tenements  of  the  social  evil ; — pos- 
sible to  surround  with  wholesome  influences  the  places  to  which 
young  people  go  for  innocent  amusement  and  to  separate  them 
from  association  with  the  liquor  traffic  and  the  social  evil ;  pos- 
sible to  protect  our  children  by  enforcement  of  the  child  labor, 
education  and  similar  laws  from  daily  exposure  to  the  moral  con- 
tamination to  which  many  of  them  are  now  subjected;  possible 
to  hound  to  their  undoing  the  unscrupulous  or  indifferent  busi- 
ness interests  which  profit  from  the  exploitation  of  vice." 

As  to  the  sources  from  which  the  white  slave  traffic  draws 
its  victims,  the  Research  Committee  says: 

"The  supply  of  women  for  prostitution  does  not  come  as 
largely  as  is  commonly  thought  from  the  ranks  of  those  willing 
or  seeking  to  enter  this  life.  Were  this  true  there  would  be 
little  necessity  for  the  *  cadet'  procurer  and  protector  who  lead 
women  astray;  for  seduction,  false  marriages,  drugs,  pleasure 
halls,  drink,  and  force  to  be  used  to  entice  them  into  this  life; 
and  compulsory  prostitution,  division  of  fees,  cost  of  living,  and 
of  protection  would  not  be  used  to  keep  them  in  such  a  state 
of  subjection." 

To  one  who  had  experience  as  a  member  of  the  State  Tene- 
ment House  and  Immigration  Commissions,  who  was  for  ten 
years  a  resident  of  the  "Red  Light  District"  in  New  York  City, 
and  who  is  now  a  prosecuting  attorney  of  this  county,  the  state- 
ments of  the  various  authorities  previously  quoted  appear  not 
to  exaggerate  the  character  and  extent  of  the  social  evil.  More 
and  more  the  following  facts  stand  out  in  bold  and  glaring  re- 
lief. Prostitution  thrives  in  its  present  extent  and  character 
because  of  the  activities  of  its  commercial  promoters.  The  pro- 
curer, the  cadet,  the  pimp,  combined  or  individually,  are  all 
working  together  for  fresh  victims  whose  market  value  is  de- 


214  PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK 

termined  by  the  expert  eyes  of  trained  traffickers  and  who  are 
ensnared  by  them  with  as  little  emotion  as  a  fish  is  caught  on 
the  hook.  Then  and  then  only  the  seducers  teach  their  victims 
the  full  extent  of  their  fall  that  they  may  in  despair  abandon 
all  thought  of  returning  to  decency.  When  this  lesson  has  been 
thoroughly  taught,  the  girls  are  "safe"  for  the  business  and 
may  be  sent  upon  the  streets  without  fear  that  they  will  attempt 
to  return  to  their  homes.  They  are  launched  into  ' i  the  business, ' ' 
hope  and  self-respect  are  dead,  shame  is  gone,  and  they  will 
continue  to  work  for  their  master  or  masters  for  the  short  five 
years  stated  to  be  the  average  life  of  professional  prostitutes. 

What  is  the  probable  number  of  prostitutes  in  New  York  City 
today?  No  one  knows  and  since  1856  no  one  has  made  an  at- 
tempt to  learn  by  actual  canvas.  If  we  take  5000  as  the  number 
in  1857,  a  thousand  less  than  the  well-grounded  estimate  of  Dr. 
Sanger,  and  assume  that  the  population  according  to  the  normal 
rate  of  increase  had  reached  650,000  by  1857,  and  further  as- 
sume a  similar  number  in  proportion  to  the  population  of  4,- 
500,000  today,  we  should  have  35,000.  If  we  even  take  only  the 
totals  estimated  by  the  police  captains  in  1857,  many  of  whom 
gave  the  actual  list  of  those  known  to  be  living  in  their  pre- 
cincts, we  have  3857.  The  same  number  in  proportion  to  the 
population  today  would  give  a  total  of  25,999.  Whether  this 
is  the  actual  number  of  prostitutes  or  not  no  one  can  say. 

Both  police  authorities  and  social  workers  agree  that  the  num- 
ber of  agents  of  debauchery  has  increased  and  that  dance  halls, 
moving  picture  shows  and  other  supposed  places  of  harmless 
recreation  and  entertainment  have  become  their  stalking 
grounds.  Hence  today  these  places  are  dangerous  for  young 
girls  not  merely  because  they  may  meet  there  a  certain  number 
of  young  men  of  loose  morals,  but  because  they  may  make  there 
the  acquaintance  of  skilled  agents  of  the  white  slave  traffic. 
These  agents  disguise  their  purpose,  and  are  expert  in  feigning 
admiration  and  love.  Hasty  engagements  on  pretended  love  at 
first  sight  take  place,  and  the  girls  are  decoyed  and  ruined. 
Their  seducers  assure  them  that  their  fall  is  complete.  They 


PROSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK  215 

then  take  these  girls  to  live  with  them  for  a  time  until  daily  con- 
tact with  indecency  of  conduct  and  of  speech,  complete  the  work 
of  degradation. 

How  many  of  these  cadets  or  pimps  as  they  are  variously 
known,  are  found  in  New  York,  cannot  be  stated.  The  estimate 
vary  from  2000  to  5000.  That  they  are  mostly  foreign  born  is 
agreed ;  that  their  victims  are  usually  but  not  so  generally  for- 
eign born  is  also  agreed.  That  New  York  is  not  unique  in  the 
possession  of  them  is  equally  true ;  that  they  are  an  importation 
from  Paris  is  true  and  that  they  are  tending  to  increase  can- 
not be  denied.  On  the  other  side,  our  public  was  never  so  much 
aroused  regarding  the  evil,  never  so  determined  that  its  iniqui- 
ties should  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible  minimum,  and  never 
so  well  equipped  with  good  laws  and  a  judiciary  ready  to  punish 
to  the  limit  of  the  law  the  procurer  and  all  his  kind.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  toll  paid  by  vice  to  the  police,  it  is  unques- 
tionably true  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  police,  both 
officers  and  men  "will  go  to  the  limit "  to  catch  and  punish  pro- 
curers and  their  kind. 

We  need,  as  do  other  cities  and  states  in  our  country,  a  more 
complete  moral  code,  improvements  in  our  antiquated  laws  of 
evidence  by  which  it  is  so  much  easier  to  protect  than  to  punish 
the  guilty,  and  a  more  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  social  and 
economic  aspects  of  the  problem.  Finally,  we  must  abandon  the 
false  superstition  that  any  particular  quantity  of  vice  is  in- 
evitable. Vice  is  exactly  like  all  other  crimes.  It  flourishes  or 
decreases  directly  in  proportion  to  the  interest  and  activity  of 
citizens  and  officials  to  oppose  it.  If  the  arm  of  the  law  is  firm 
and  sure  and  the  enforcement  of  the  law  sustained  by  public  sen- 
timent is  prompt,  the  evil  can  be  greatly  reduced  and  its  com- 
mercial promoters  largely  driven  out  of  the  business. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  PRESENTMENT. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  June  in  the  summer  of 
1910  newspapers  throughout  the  world  printed  glowing  head- 
lines that  shocked  the  reading  public  and  chilled  the  blood  in  the 
veins  of  those  fighting  the  traffic  in  girls. 

WHITE  SLAVERY  NOT  IN  NEW  YORK. 

ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  REPORTS  ALLEGATIONS  ARE  LARGELY  MYTH- 
ICAL.  NO    ORGANIZED   TRAFFIC. 

This  was  the  heading  of  an  article  in  one  of  the  largest  news- 
papers in  America. 

Other  papers  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  had  headings 
about  as  follows : 

TRAFFIC  IN  WHITE  SLAVES  A  MYTH. 

People  who  read  these  headlines  and  hurriedly  scanned  the 
contents  of  the  articles  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief  and  sat  back 
content  that  the  country  was  safe  and  secure  once  more. 

Perhaps  no  article  given  out  by  offices  furnishing  news  to  the 
daily  papers  of  America  ever  did  more  apparent  harm. 

The  very  same  papers  that  printed  these  articles  endeavored 
to  rectify  matters  when  their  editors  had  time  to  carefully  read 
the  report  of  the  New  York  Grand  Jury. 

For  days  afterward  editorials  appeared  setting  forth  true 
imports  of  this  jury's  presentment. 

Yet  the  harm  had  been  done  for  many  people  are  content  with 
reading  headlines  and  the  news  columns,  but  never,  or  seldom, 
read  the  editorials. 

It  took  almost  a  year  to  bring  people  back  to  a  realization  that 
a  horrible  traffic  in  girls  and  women  does  exist  in  New  York  as 

216 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  217 

well  as  elsewhere.  Public  opinion  plays  a  very  important  part 
in  every  campaign  for  moral  as  well  as  civil  reform.  It  cost 
thousands  of  dollars  and  much  hard  patient  work  to  again  mould 
this  public  opinion  along  the  right  channels. 

Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  who  as  the  foreman  of  this  New 
York  Grand  Jury  had  given  up  so  much  of  his  valuable  time  to 
the  investigations  made  there  felt  keenly  the  harm  that  had 
been  done  through  the  error,  for  we  shall  be  charitable  and  not 
call  it  a  wilful  misrepresentation.  Mr.  Rockefeller,  at  his  own 
expense,  had  thousands  of  copies  of  the  full  presentment  printed 
and  sent  broadcast  throughout  America. 

People  everywhere  have  come  to  realize  the  truth  and  the 
truth  never  hurts  those  in  the  right,  but  does  injure  those  in 
the  wrong. 

An  editorial  in  a  Chicago  evening  paper  of  June  twenty-ninth 
says: 

"But  the  fact  that  the  Rockefeller  grand  jury,  in  a  six  months'  investigation  was 
unable  to  find  any  traces  of  an  'organization,  incorporated  or  otherwise,  engaged 
in  the  traffic  in  women,'  should  not,  and  surely  will  not,  produce  more  than  a  mo- 
mentary reaction.  The  grand  jury  found  plenty  of  traffic  in  unfortunate  women 
carried  on  by  unscrupulous  individuals  acting  for  their  own  benefit  and  with  a 
certain  amount  of  loose  joint  cooperation.  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  'muck 
rakers'  have  exaggerated  the  volume  or  the  seriousness  of  the  social  evil  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  country.  There  is  a  tremendous  lot  to  be  done — and  many 
efforts  are  already  under  way  to  do  it. 

"The  constructive  program  outlined  by  the  Rockefeller  grand  jury  is  the 
thing  upon  which  New  York  should  focus  its  attention." 

Thus  the  newspapers  of  the  country,  as  soon  as  they  received 
the  detailed  report  of  this  famous  grand  jury,  endeavored  to 
correct  the  erroneous  impression  given  out  in  the  morning 
papers  of  the  country  and  the  New  York  evening  papers  of  June 
twenty-eighth. 

This  great  mistake  concerning  the  report  came  about  in  this 
way.  In  New  York  City  grand  jury  presentments  are  given  to 
the  press  only  after  they  have  been  formally  filed  by  the  Judge 
of  the  court.  The  presentment  of  the  Rockefeller  grand  jury 
was  received  by  the  Judge  and  filed  too  late  for  publication  in  the 


218  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

afternoon  and  evening  papers  of  the  day  the  jury  was  dismissed. 
At  the  solicitation  of  the  reporters  for  the  afternoon  papers,  a 
summary  of  the  presentment  was  given  them,  apparently  fur- 
nished by  some  one  connected  with  the  court  or  grand  jury. 
This  summary,  and  not  the  presentment  itself,  appeared  in  the 
evening  newspapers  of  New  York  City  of  that  date,  and  fur- 
nished the  basis  of  the  reports  distributed  throughout  the  coun- 
try by  the  new  agencies. 

Most  of  the  afternoon  newspapers  declared  in  their  headlines 
that  the  " Rockefeller  Jury  Reports  No  White  Slavery/'  and  the 
news  articles  began  thus : 

"The  presentment  exonerated  the  city  of  being  a  clearing 
house  for  organized  traffic  in  leading  young  women  into  lives 
of  shame  and  trafficking  in  them." 

To  arrive  at  a  fair  conclusion  and  get  at  the  truth  concerning 
this  very  important  chapter  in  the  epoch  of  white  slavery  hor- 
rors, let  us  study  the  history  of  this  grand  jury  and  read  care- 
fully its  findings  in  the  presentment. 

Perhaps  no  man  in  New  York  has  had  a  better  opportunity 
of  observing  and  studying  the  problem  of  white  slavery  than 
General  Theodore  A.  Bingham,  former  Commissioner  of  Police 
for  Greater  New  York.  In  an  excellent  article,  "The  Girl  that 
Disappears ' '  in  the  November,  1910,  number  of  Hampton 's  Mag- 
azine, where  he  tells  of  the  extent  of  the  white  slave  traffic  he 
gives  the  following  brief  history  of  the  Rockefeller  Grand  Jury. 

"THE  GIRL  THAT  DISAPPEARS." 

"The  white-slave  agitation  reached  a  high  point  in  1908  and 
1909.  Various  organizations  and  individuals  became  interested 
in  investigations;  newspapers  and  magazines  took  up  the  sub- 
ject, and  during  the  New  York  municipal  campaign  in  the  fall 
of  1909,  one  of  the  chief  arguments  used  against  Tammany  Hall 
was  the  charge  that  white  slavery  had  flourished  in  New 
York  City  under  Tammany  administration.  Tammany,  conse- 
quently, suffered  severely  in  the  1909  election. 

"Early  in  1910  the  newspapers  announced  that  a  special  grand 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  219 

jury  would  be  appointed  to  investigate  white  slavery.  This  jury 
began  its  labors  January  3,  1910. 

"As  it  happened,  Judge  T.  C.  0 'Sullivan,  of  the  Court  of 
General  Sessions,  was  on  the  bench  when  this  jury  was  called 
and  hence  he  presided  over  its  deliberations.  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller, Jr.,  at  first  reluctant  to  assume  the  duties  of  foreman  of 
the  jury,  finally  accepted  his  responsibilities  with  earnestness 
and  sincerity.  Mr.  Rockefeller  offered  to  personally  provide 
funds  for  the  investigation.  This  offer  was  declined  by  the 
Mayor,  and  the  Board  of  Estimate  made  a  special  appropria- 
tion of  $25,000  for  the  use  of  the  District  Attorney. 

"Of  course  this  was  not  accomplished  in  silence.  In  fact, 
had  the  inquiry  been  instituted  by  friends  and  near  relatives  of 
the  traffickers  in  women's  shame,  these  men  could  not  have  been 
more  effectually  placed  upon  their  guard.  Every  edition  of  the 
daily  papers  shouted  threats  and  warnings  of  what  the  special 
grand  jury  was  about  to  do. 

"Charles  S.  Whitman,  who  had  been  elected  District  Attorney 
on  an  anti-Tammany  ticket,  and  his  assistants,  were  working 
under  extremely  difficult  conditions.  White  slavers  carry  on 
their  business  so  quietly  and  shrewdly  that  detection  and  con- 
viction is  almost  impossible  even  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions.  With  all  the  newspapers  trumpeting  the  danger,  the 
white-slave  forces  made  themselves  most  inconspicuous  and 
careful. 

"The  grand  jury's  work  continued  through  the  winter  and 
into  the  spring.  Judge  0  'Sullivan  ruled  that  the  point  at  issue 
was  whether  there  existed  a  formal,  organized  body  engaged  as 
a  body  in  the  trafficking  in  women.  Against  a  body  of  this  sort 
indictments  might  be  found.  After  hearing  testimony  for  sev- 
eral weeks,  the  grand  jury  sent  to  the  court  a  special  committee, 
which  offered  a  presentment  of  the  jury's  findings.  Judge 
0 'Sullivan  declined  to  accept  any  communications,  except  in- 
dictments, from  the  jury  at  that  time.  Some  ten  days  later, 
Mr.  Rockefeller,  as  head  of  the  grand  jury,  placed  before  Judge 
O 'Sullivan  in  chambers  a  presentment  of  the  findings  of  the 


220  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 


tied 


jury.    After  studying  this  for  six  days,  Judge  O 'Sullivan  fil 
this  presentment  and  dismissed  the  jury  with  these  words: 

"Your  answer  to  the  main  question  submitted  to  you  is  a 
merited  rebuke  to  the  slanderers  of  the  cleanest  and  greatest 
city  in  the  world. " 

After  having  read  General  Bingham's  recapitulation  of  thia 
grand  jury's  history  it  might  be  well  to  go  to  the  court  room  in 
New  York  on  June  ninth  and  get  there  the  exact  facts.  That 
day  Judge  0 'Sullivan  refused  to  receive  and  file  the  present- 
ment of  the  grand  jury  and  gave  the  grand  jurors  two  weeks  in 
which  to  reconsider  or  amend  the  presentment,  and  ordered  them 
to  continue  in  session  two  weeks  longer. 

Therefore  on  the  twenty-third  of  June,  the  grand  jury  re- 
assembled, and  again  its  foreman  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  in- 
sisted upon  filing  in  court  the  presentment  which  Judge  0  'Sul- 
livan declined  to  accept  on  June  ninth.  Even  District  Attorney 
Whitman,  it  is  reported,  at  that  time  contended  Judge  0  'Sullivan 
had  no  legal  authority  to  refuse  to  accept  the  presentment.  The 
following  affidavit  tells  its  own  story  incident  to  what  occurred 
on  June  twenty-third: 

"  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK    ) 
COUNTY  OF  NEW  YORK) 

T.  CHANDON  PRESS,  being  duly  sworn,  deposes  and  says : 
That  he  is  a  Deputy  Assistant  District  Attorney  connected 
with  the  office  of  the  District  Attorney  of  the  County  of  New 
York ;  that  on  the  23rd  day  of  June,  1910,  he  was  present  in  the 
Court  of  General  Sessions,  Part  V  (May  term  continued)  when 
the  additional  Grand  Jury  for  the  January  Term  of  1910  ap- 
peared in  Court,  and  through  its  foreman,  Mr.  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller, Jr.,  handed  to  the  Honorable  Thomas  C.  O 'Sullivan,  who 
was  then  presiding,  its  presentment  and  requested  that  it  be  dis- 
charged from  the  further  consideration  of  the  matters  sub- 
mitted to  it  by  his  Honor  in  January,  1910 ;  that  the  following 
is  the  correct  statement  of  what  was  said  by  the  foreman  of  the 
grand  jury  and  the  Court  on  the  occasion  in  question : 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  221 

The  Foreman :  Your  Honor,  in  the  charge  which  your  Honor 
delivered  to  the  grand  jury,  copy  of  which  1  hold  in  my  hand, 
your  Honor  directed  that  a  certain  investigation  should  be  made. 
This  has  been  done.  No  time  nor  effort  has  been  spared  in  the 
work.  The  grand  jury  has  been  in  communication  with  your 
Honor  through  its  foreman  during  the  investigation,  and  at  no 
time  has  any  single  phase  of  the  investigation  been  undertaken 
without  our  having  secured  in  advance  your  Honor's  approval 
and  endorsement  of  that  specific  line  of  investigation  in  each 
case. 

Your  Honor,  in  your  Honor's  charge,  further  directs  the 
Grand  Jury  to  present  to  the  Court  the  facts  found  by  it. 

The  Court :    And  you  now  desire — 

The  Foreman :  In  line  with  that  instruction,  the  Grand  Jury 
has  the  honor  to  present  to  the  Court  this  presentment,  with  a 
renewal  of  the  request  that  it  be  discharged.  Is  it  your  Honor 's 
pleasure  that  the  foreman  read  the  presentment? 

The  Court:  No;  there  is  no  precedure  of  that  character  in 
this  Court.  You  may  hand  up  the  paper. 

The  Foreman:    I  have  the  honor  (handing  paper). 

The  Court :  Gentlemen  of  the  Grand  Jury,  two  weeks  ago  it 
was  deemed  prudent  to  delay  the  acceptance  of  the  document  of- 
fered by  your  foreman.  The  reasons  given  by  the  Court  for  its 
action  and  its  suggestion  to  the  Grand  Jury  were  then  consid- 
ered adequate.  Particular  reference  at  that  time  to  other  rea- 
sons did  not  seem  necessary  or  advisable.  Today  it  appears  to 
be  the  duty  of  the  Court  to  make  them  known  to  you. 

As  your  foreman  has  said,  during  the  long  investigation  of 
the  questions  submitted  to  you  perfect  accord  prevailed  between 
you  and  the  Court.  You  were  animated  by  no  other  desire  than 
to  get  at  the  truth  of  the  question.  Your  foreman  frequently 
consulted  the  Court  upon  various  subjects  under  your  consid- 
eration. He  was  advised  to  consider  every  matter  that  might 
be  relevant  to  the  main  question ;  that  unless  other  topics  were 
probative  of  that,  they  were  not  germane  to  the  question  and 


222  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

findings  upon  them  should  not  be  permitted  to  befog  your  an- 
swer to  the  principal  question. 

What  matters  are  relevant  is  a  question  of  law  to  be  deter- 
mined by  either  of  your  legal  advisors,  the  District  Attorney  or 
the  Judge  of  the  Court.  As  you  had  occasion  to  learn  during 
the  investigation,  it  is  not  every  report  that  may  find  a  place 
upon  the  files  of  the  Court. 

Your  foreman  called  upon  the  Judge  in  chambers  with  a  docu- 
ment which  contained  a  recital  of  the  activities  of  the  Grand 
Jury  in  the  search  for  information.  As  the  Court  recalls  it  now, 
the  document  recited  efforts  made  in  many  directions,  showing 
that  local  and  state  and  federal  bodies  which  had  investigated 
this  question,  were  consulted.  It  set  forth  the  names  of  quasi- 
public,  civic  and  charitable  associations  whose  co-operation  had 
been  solicited.  It  showed  that  no  conceivable  source  of  informa- 
tion was  overlooked  in  your  investigation. 

Your  foreman  wished  to  know  if  the  document  might  be  filed 
in  Court,  or  by  what  other  method  its  contents  might  formally 
reach  the  public.  The  paper  was  submitted  and  the  matter  taken 
under  consideration.  Shortly  thereafter,  the  paper  was  re- 
turned to  the  foreman,  to  whom  it  was  suggested,  that  as  public 
funds  had  been  appropriated  to  aid  you  in  the  investigation, 
that  a  report  might  be  made  properly  to  the  Mayor  or  to  the 
Comptroller.  It  was  also  suggested  that  you  might  defer  it 
until  your  labors  had  ceased,  when  you  could  inform  the  public 
through  the  press. 

By  the  return  of  that  document  to  you  there  was  no  slight 
or  discourtesy  intended  towards  you  gentlemen.  It  is  right  that 
the  public  should  know  your  commendable  activities  in  its  serv- 
ice, but  there  was  no  place  in  the  records  of  the  Court  for  such  a 
document. 

On  the  last  Friday  in  April,  as  you  were  about  to  present  your 
findings  for  that  day,  a  brief  consultation  was  held  between  your 
foreman,  the  District  Attorney  and  the  Judge  of  the  Court. 
It  was  then  stated  that  indictments  of  vital  importance  in  their 
relation  to  the  white  slave  traffic  had  been  found.  All  the  arrests 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

under  the  indictments  had  not  been  made.  Secrecy  with  regard 
to  them  was  deemed  imperative.  The  suggestion  was  made  that 
the  Court  receive  the  indictments  and  withhold  the  filing  of  them 
until  a  later  date. 

The  Judge  inquired  of  the  foreman  if  the  members  of  the 
Grand  Jury  had  been  especially  cautioned  upon  the  urgent  ne- 
cessity for  secrecy.  He  replied  that  they  had  been.  Believing 
that  beyond  the  arrest  of  the  defendants  far-reaching  results 
would  be  served  by  discreet  silence,  the  Judge  advised  your  fore- 
man to  keep  the  indictments  in  his  own  custody  until  the  fol- 
lowing Tuesday. 

The  day  after  that  consultation,  and  while  the  indictments 
were  in  the  custody  of  your  foreman,  the  newspapers  of  this 
city  published  under  startling  headlines,  the  substance  of  the  in- 
dictments. The  disclosures  did  not  come  from  the  Grand  Jury 
but  from  a  source  close  to  it.  For  several  days  thereafter,  re- 
ports in  the  public  prints  detailed  conditions  of  the  most  brutal 
depravity.  They  purported  to  come  from  interviews  with  a 
gentleman  who  had  come  into  the  District  Attorney's  office  for 
the  purpose  of  assisting  the  Grand  Jury  in  this  investigation; 
children  held  in  the  slavery  of  vice  by  human  monsters,  and  per- 
haps murder  committed  to  conceal  other  infamous  offenses,  and 
a  multitude  of  criminals  implicated,  were  matters  which,  ac- 
cording to  those  interviews,  would  be  submitted  to  your  consid- 
eration. 

It  is  hardly  a  fair  or  legal  method  of  proof  to  assume  that  cer- 
tain conditions  exist,  but  which  are  now  impossible  to  prove 
because  of  the  imprudent  conduct  of  the  one  who  asserted  their 
existence. 

Whatever  may  be  the  honorable  repute  of  the  officer  ap- 
pointed to  serve  the  Grand  Jury,  his  imprudent  and  exaggerated 
statements  should  not  be  reflected  in  the  findings  of  that  digni- 
fied body. 

Impressed  with  that  belief,  the  Judge  of  the  Court  sent  for 
your  foreman  and  stated  to  him  that  he  did  not  consider  it  wise 
to  permit  the  officer  in  question  to  write  your  final  report;  that 


224  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

in  fact,  he  would  not  feel  inclined  to  receive  such  a  report. 
The  Judge  entertained  the  conviction  that  citizens  of  New  York 
were  entitled  to  a  straightforward,  unequivocal  answer  to  the 
question  before  the  Grand  Jury,  and  that  it  was  his  right  and 
duty  to  know  whether  there  was  such  an  answer  in  your  final 
report.  Whatever  it  might  be,  was  it  founded  upon  legal  evi- 
dence taken  before  you,  because  no  other  evidence  is  permissible 
and  you  already  had  exhibited  a  woeful  misconception  of  legal 
evidence  with  regard  to  this  investigation. 

Your  foreman  stated  that  no  matter  who  wrote  the  answer  it 
would  contain  not  a  jot  more  or  less  than  the  truth,  and  that 
before  the  report  was  submitted  he  would  gladly  advise  with  the 
Judge. 

The  first  intimation  which  the  Court  had  of  the  report  was 
upon  the  proffer  of  it  two  weeks  ago.  Since  then  it  has  been 
learned  from  your  foreman  that  the  first  question  to  which  you 
have  devoted  your  attention  is  the  main  question  submitted  to 
you. 

What  the  others  are  the  Court  is  not  aware  of.  All  the 
testimony  taken  before  you  has  been  examined.  The  papers 
submitted  by  you  will  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  tes- 
timony to  enable  the  Court  to  make  a  proper  disposition  of  it. 

In  the  meantime,  gentlemen,  the  Court  wishes  to  direct  your 
attention  to  another  matter  in  relation  to  your  investigation 
which  may  require  additional  service  from  you. 

On  page  545  of  the  testimony  taken  before  you  on  May  2nd, 
and  in  the  pages  following,  there  are  grave  accusations  which 
should  not  be  overlooked.  It  is  true  that  certain  of  them  are 
of  an  objectionable  hearsay  character,  but  names  of  persons  and 
places  are  mentioned,  and  it  may  be  possible  to  find  indictments. 

I  charge  you  that  it  is  your  duty  to  investigate  those  accusa- 
tions. 

On  page  548  of  testimony  taken  on  May  2nd,  the  same  witness, 
there  is  testimony  of  a  more  direct  and  competent  character, 
which  ought  to  be  investigated  to  determine  whether  the  crime 
charged  has  been  committed. 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  225 

On  page  565  of  the  testimony  taken  before  you,  on  May  26th 
there  is  other  testimony  which  should  be  investigated  before 
your  labors  cease. 

The  great  bulk  of  this  witness*  testimony  is  clear,  inadmis- 
sible hearsay,  but  on  page  585  he  swears  to  direct  knowledge  of 
the  facts.  This  case  should  be  investigated. 

The  matters  first  mentioned  are  of  so  serious  a  nature  that 
notwithstanding  the  time  which  you  have  already  devoted  to 
the  service  of  the  county,  your  whole  duty  will  not  be  done  until 
deep  and  searching  scrutiny  is  made  into  every  one  of  these 
charges. 

For  that  purpose  you  may  continue  your  investigations  an- 
other week." 

One  week  later  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  June  again  the  grand 
jurors  met  in  court,  and  Judge  0 'Sullivan  addressed  them  as 
follows : 

1 1  Gentlemen  of  the  Grand  Jury : 

4  *  Some  months  since  there  were  published  many  statements 
concerning  the  so-called  *  White  Slave  Traffic  in  the  City  of 
New  York/  These  statements  Were  the  culmination  of  prior 
publications  of  similar  import.  They  purported  to  set  forth 
circumstantially  and  in  detail  that  in  the  city  of  New  York 
such  a  traffic  existed ;  and  that,  by  reason  of  political  protection 
afforded  to  the  traffickers,  the  traffic  had  assumed  world-wide 
proportions.  It  was  said  that  the  city  of  New  York  had  become 
a  center  for  an  organization  which  supplied  women  to  every  con- 
tinent on  the  globe.  It  was  said  that  this  organized  traffic  in 
women  had  attained  such  proportions  that  women  by  the  thou- 
sands were  being  made  victims  of  the  trade  and  that  the  civic 
life  of  the  city  had  become  poisoned  through  those  who  con- 
trolled this  traffic. 

"Not  only  my  duty  as  a  judge  of  this  Court,  but  my  duty  as 
a  citizen  of  this  city  impelled  me  to  direct  the  attention  of  the 
Grand  Jury  to  these  statements.  It  seemed  to  me  essential  that 
an  immediate  investigation  should  be  made  to  determine  whether 

15 


226  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

such  an  organized  traffic  in  women  existed  in  this  city  and 
whether  the  city  was  in  fact  the  centre  of  a  white  slave  trade. 

"You  gentlemen  were  selected  for  the  purpose  of  making  this 
investigation.  Your  standing  in  the  community  and  your  known 
probity  made  it  certain  that  the  careful  and  impartial  inquiry 
desired  by  me  would  be  carried  to  the  end  unswerved  by  any 
political  or  personal  consideration. 

"In  the  charge  delivered  to  you  when  you  undertook  this  in- 
vestigation, you  were  particularly  advised  to  keep  in  mind  that 
the  main  object  of  your  inquiry  was  the  uncovering  not  only  of 
isolated  offenses,  but  of  an  organized  traffic  in  women,  if  any 
such  existed. 

"You  have  been  engaged  in  this  investigation  for  a  period  of 
nearly  six  months.  It  is  apparent  from  the  record  of  your  work 
submitted  to  me  that  you  have  exhausted  every  possible  source 
of  information  concerning  such  an  alleged  traffic.  You  have 
even  made  a  public  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  the  city  for  informa- 
tion which  might  aid  you. 

"The  witnesses  who  by  training  and  observation  were  com- 
petent to  give  you  information  on  the  subject,  for  instance  Prof. 
Jenks,  Ex.-Comr.  Bingham  and  Mr.  Lindsay  (of  the  Children's 
Society)  were  unanimous  in  the  belief  that  no  organized  traffic 
in  women  exists  in  this  city.  You  had  before  you  the  author 
of  the  most  scandalous  attack  upon  the  city.  He  admitted  un- 
der oath  that  his  article  was  over-stated  and  deceiving.  He  was 
compelled  under  oath  to  admit  that  he  had  no  evidence  (not  even 
hearsay)  to  support  his  statements.  He  was  examined  by  the 
District  Attorney  in  person  and  the  people  of  this  city  ought 
to  know  that  the  District  Attorney,  while  actuated  by  a  desire 
to  place  before  you  all  the  legal  evidence  available  in  connection 
with  your  investigation,  did  not  hesitate  to  compel  those  who 
had  slandered  the  city  of  New  York  to  retract  the  slanders,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  uncover  the  motives  which  inspired  the  at- 
tacks. 

"Your  report  is  that  no  organized  traffic  in  women  exists  in 
this  city,  The  painstaking  discussion  in  your  report  concern- 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  227 

ing  vicious  conditions,  which  exist  in  this  city  in  common  with  all 
large  cities'  of  the  world,  is  further  evidence  of  the  extent  to 
which  you  carried  your  investigations.  The  fact  that,  as  shown 
by  your  report,  you  were  able  to  uncover  only  isolated  instances 
of  vice,  such  as  we  all  knew  existed,  demonstrates  to  my  satis- 
faction that  your  conclusion  is  correct  and  that  New  York  City 
does  not  harbor  an  organized  traffic  in  women's  bodies. 

"It  is  too  much  to  hope  that  prostitution  can  be  eradicated  by 
law.  So  long  as  it  exists  corrupt  men  will  continue  to  profit 
by  the  practice.  The  most  that  can  be  hoped  is  that  your  in- 
vestigation and  the  recommendations  which  you  make  will  aid 
in  checking  the  evil  and  in  suppressing  the  manifestations  of  it. 

"If  during  this  investigation  the  court  exhibits  any  degree  of 
exaction  with  regard  to  your  proceedings,  it  was  simply  from 
a  conviction  of  duty  toward  you  as  an  appendage  of  the  Court. 
That  the  effect  of  your  investigation  might  in  no  wise  be  impaired 
my  vigilance  led  me  to  a  mistaken  criticism  of  a  gentleman  ap- 
pointed by  the  District  Attorney  to  attend  your  investigation. 
One  way  to  repair  a  mistake  is  to  acknowledge  it,  and  that  ac- 
knowledgment I  cheerfully  make  to  Mr.  Eeynolds.  Informa- 
tion has  been  conveyed  to  me  from  which  I  am  convinced  that 
instead  of  criticism  he  is  entitled  to  much  credit  for  his  services 
to  the  Grand  Jury. 

"Now  that  your  service  to  the  county  is  about  to  terminate, 
permit  me  to  express  my  personal  appreciation  of  your  labors. 
To  men  of  refinement  they  could  be  nothing  but  unpleasant.  To 
men  of  important  business  affairs,  they  called  for  much  per- 
sonal sacrifice.  But  in  return  for  it  all  you  must  have  the  pleas- 
ing consciousness  that  they  were  given  for  a  city  in  every  way 
worthy  of  your  best  efforts.  Your  answer  to  the  main  question 
submitted  to  you  is  a  merited  rebuke  to  the  slanderers  of  the 
cleanest  great  city  of  the  world. 

"Gentlemen,  in  the  name  of  the  county,  I  thank  you.  You  are 
discharged." 

The  Chicago  Tribune  of  June  30,  1910,  in  commenting  upon 


228  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

Judge  0  'Sullivan 's  seemingly  carefully  prepared  speech  to  the 
Grand  Jury  says  editorially : 

"WHITE  SLAVERY." 

"The  findings  of  the  special  grand  jury  which  has  been  in- 
vestigating the  so-called  white  slave  traffic  in  New  York  will 
hardly  seem  to  the  average  man  to  give  grounds  for  the  com- 
ment of  the  judge  of  General  Sessions  to  which  the  report  was 
made.  He  declared: 

"  'Your  answer  to  the  main  question  submitted  to  you  is  a 
merited  rebuke  to  the  slanderers  of  the  cleanest  great  city  in  the 
world. ' 

"This  main  question  was  as  to  the  existence  of  an  organized 
traffic  in  women.  And  what  are  the  conclusions  of  the  jury? 

"  'While  we  have  found  no  evidence  of  any  organization,  in- 
corporated or  otherwise,  engaged  in  the  traffic  of  women,  nor 
have  we  found  evidence  of  organized  traffic  in  women  for  im- 
moral purposes,  it  appears,  on  the  other  hand,  from  indictments 
found  by  us  and  from  the  testimony  of  witnesses  that  a  traffick- 
ing in  the  bodies  of  women  does  exist  and  is  carried  on  by  in- 
dividuals acting  for  their  own  individual  benefit,  and  that  these 
persons  are  known  to  each  other  and  are  more  or  less  inform- 
ally associated. 

"  'We  have  also  found  that  associations  and  clubs  composed 
mainly  or  wholly  of  those  profiting  from  vice  have  existed  and 
that  one  such  organization  still  exists. 

"  'These  associations  and  clubs  are  analogous  to  commercial 
bodies  in  other  fields,  which,  while  not  directly  engaged  in  com- 
merce, are  composed  of  individuals  all  of  whom  as  individuals 
are  so  engaged. 

' '  '  The  ' '  incorporated  syndicates ' '  and  ' '  international  bands ' ' 
referred  to  in  published  statements  we  find  to  be  based  on  such 
informal  relations  as  have  just  been  spoken  of. ' 

"The  Judge  is  welcome  to  any  moral  satisfaction  he  may  get 
out  of  the  conclusion  that,  contrary  to  the  picturesque  report, 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  229 

there  is  no  'incorporated  syndicate '  or  *  international  band'  of 
panders,  but  that  there  are  individuals  in  this  traffic  'more  or 
less  informally  associated'  and  that  there  are  'associations  and 
clubs  analogous  to  commercial  bodies  in  other  fields.' 

"Doubtless  the  judge's  legal  mind  enables  him  to  wax  proud 
and  glad  over  the  fact  that  incorporation  has  not  yet  been  re- 
sorted to  by  these  backward  gentry.  But  the  lay  mind  stupidly 
fixes  itself  on  the  fact  that  the  traffic  goes  on." 

Now  that  the  reader  knows  the  exact  facts  concerning  occur- 
rences in  the  court  room,  conclusions  can  easily  be  drawn  in  the 
reader's  mind  as  to  how  the  erroneous  reports  happened  to 
be  circulated  broadcast  throughout  the  land.  Having  deter- 
mined that,  it  might  be  well  to  turn  to  the  ' '  Presentment  of  the 
Additional  Grand  Jury  for  the  January  Term  of  the  Court  of 
General  Sessions  in  the  County  of  New  York,  in  the  matter  of 
the  investigation  as  to  the  alleged  existence  in  the  County  of 
New  York  of  an  organized  traffic  in  women  for  immoral  pur- 
poses." 

It  was  the  general  understanding  that  the  Grand  Jury  when  it 
was  impaneled  was  instructed  by  Judge  0 'Sullivan  not  only, 
to  find  white  slave  indictments,  but  to  investigate  and  report  on 
the  whole  subject  of  the  white  slave  traffic.  As  to  whether  it  was 
organized  under  one  great  management  does  not  seem  to  be 
material  to  the  issue.  The  people  want  this  question  answered : 
"Is  there  white  slavery  or  a  traffic  in  girls  in  New  York?"  It 
makes  very  little  difference  to  the  public  in  general  how  the  foul 
business  is  organized.  If  it  is  there  in  any  form,  carried  on  by 
individuals,  gangs,  associations,  syndicates  or  trusts,  the  people 
want  it  stopped. 

The  presentment  of  the  Grand  Jury  was  filed  June  twenty- 
ninth,  1910,  the  day  following  the  date  the  summary  report  was 
given  to  the  newspapers,  and  a  true  copy  is  herewith  given. 


230        ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

THE  GRAND  JURY  PRESENTMENT. 

COURT  OF  GENERAL  SESSIONS  IN  AND  FOR  THE  CITY  AND  COUNTY 

OF  NEW  YORK. 

In  the  matter  of  the  investigation  as  to  the  alleged  existence  in  the  County 

of    New    York    of    an    organized    traffic    in    women    for    immoral    purposes. 
To  the  Hon.  THOMAS  C.  O'SULLIVAN,  Judge  of  the  Court  of  General  Sessions. 
Sir: 

We,  the  members  of  the  Additional  Grand  Jury  for  the  January  Term,  1910, 
respectfully  present  as  follows: 

In  the  charge  delivered  to  us  by  Your  Honor  on  the  3rd  day  of  January,  1910, 
Your  Honer  said: 

"There  have  been  spread  broadcast  in  the  public  prints  statements  that  the 
City  of  New  York  is  a  center  or  clearing  house  for  an  organized  traffic  in  women 
for  immoral  purposes,  or  what  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  'white  slave*  traffic. 
Some  of  these  statements  may  have  been  published  with  ulterior  motive  and  may 
have  been  mere  sensationalism,  but  some  are  said  to  be  based  upon  official  investi- 
gation and  charges  made  by  persons  who  profess  to  have  knowledge  of  the  fact. 
******* 

"This  traffic  in  women,  it  is  charged,  follows  two  main  objects:  First,  the 
procuring  of  women  of  previous  chaste  character,  who  through  force,  duress,  or 
deceit  are  finally  made  to  live  lives  of  prostitution;  second,  the  procuring  of 
women  who  are  already  prostitutes  and  placing  them  with  their  consent  in  houses 

where  they  may  ply  their  trade. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"But  the  main  object,  gentlemen,  which  I  desire  you  to  keep  in  mind  through- 
out your  investigation  is  the  uncovering  not  alone  of  isolated  offences,  but  of  an 
organization,  if  any  such  exists,  for  a  traffic  in  the  bodies  of  women. 

"You  should  make  your  investigation  sufficiently  broad  to  cover  not  only 
present  conditions,  but  also  conditions  existing  in  the  past  within  the  statute  of 
limitations. 

"I  charge  you  that  it  is  your  duty  to  pursue  this  inquiry  into  every  channel 
open  to  you  and  to  present  to  the  court  the  facts  found  by  you." 

Pursuant  to  Your  Honor's  instructions,  we  have  made  an  investigation  into 
the  matters  referred  to  in  your  Honor's  charge.  We  have  called  before  our  body 
every  person  whom  we  could  find  who  we  had  reason  to  believe  might  have  in- 
formation on  the  subject.  Among  others  were  the  following:  a  member  of  the 
National  Immigration  Commission  assigned  to  investigate  conditions  relating  to 
importing,  seducing,  and  dealing  in  women  in  the  City  of  New  York;  the  author 
of  an  article  which  appeared  in  McClure's  Magazine  for  November,  1909,  entitled 
"The  Daughters  of  the  Poor;"  a  former  under  sheriff  in  the  County  of  Essex.  New 
Jersey;  the  President  of  the  New  York  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Children;  the  author  of  a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  White  Slave  Traffic;"  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  York  State  Immigration  Commission  appointed  by  Governor 
Hughes  in  1908;  a  former  Police  Commissioner  of  the  City  of  New  York;  de- 
tectives and  other  agents  especially  employed  in  connection  with  this  investigation; 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  231 

members  ana  ex-members  of  the  New  York  Independent  Benevolent  Association; 
witnesses  in  the  specific  cases  presented  to  this  grand  jury,  as  well  as  a  number 
of  other  citizens.  In  addition,  the  foreman,  the  District  Attorney  and  his  assistants 
have  interviewed  representatives  of  the  following  organizations: 

The  Committee  of  Fourteen;   its  Research  Committee; 

The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to   Children; 

The  New  York  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice; 

The  Charity  Organization  Society; 

The  Society  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor; 

The  Committee  on  Amusements  and  Vacation  Resources  of   Working  Girls; 

The  Society  for  Social  and  Moral  Prophylaxis; 

The  Florence  Crittenten  Mission; 

The  Xew  York  Probation  Association; 

The  Headworkers  of  various  Social  Settlements; 

The  Women's  Municipal  League; 

The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime; 

The  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research. 

We  also  published  in  the  daily  press  of  this  city  on  the  6th  day  of  May  the 
following: 

"The  additional  Grand  Jury,  sworn  in  in  January  by  Judge  O'Sullivan  of  the 
Court  of  General  Sessions,  was  charged  with  the  investigation  of  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  certain  statements  which  had  been  publicly  made  during  the  past  few 
months  to  the  effect  that  the  City  of  New  York  is  a  center  or  clearing  house  for 
an  organized  traffic  in  women  for  immoral  purposes,  or  what  has  come  to  be  known 
as  the  'white- slave  traffic.' 

"Pursuant  to  this  charge  the  Grand  Jury  has  been  seeking  legal  evidence  on 
this  subject  from  all  available  sources.  The  information  which  many  citizens  have 
volunteered  to  give  has  proved  in  most  cases  to  be  general  rather  than  specific. 

"Before  closing  its  investigation  the  Grand  Jury  desires  to  announce  publicly 
that  it  will  be  glad  to  receive  definite,  specific  information  as  to  the  existence  in 
this  county  of  any  traffic  in  women  for  immoral  purposes  from  any  citizen  or  official 
or  other  individual  who  has  such  information.  Those  who  are  willing  to  assist 
the  Grand  Jury  in  its  investigation  are  asked  to  call  at  the  office  of  James  B. 
Reynolds,  Assistant  District  Attorney,  Criminal  Courts  Building  (within  the  next 
week).  It  will  save  the  time  of  many  individuals  and  of  Mr.  Reynolds  if  only 
those  appear  who  are  willing  and  able  to  present  facts  regarding  the  specific 
matter  above  stated. 

"On  behalf  of  the  Additional  January  Grand  Jury 

"John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  Foreman." 

As  a  part  of  this  investigation  evidence  has  been  presented  to  us  and  we  have 
found  54  indictments: 

22  for  rape; 

16  for  abduction; 

10  for  maintaining  disorderly  houses,  7  of  which  were  Raines  Law  Hotels; 
6  for  the  violation  of  Section  2460  of  the  Penal  Law,  entitled  "Compulsory 
Prostitution  of  Women." 


232  ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

We  have  found  no  evidence  of  the  existence  in  the  County  of  New  \fark  of  any 
organization  or  organizations,  incorporated  or  otherwise,  engaged  as  such  in  the 
traffic  in  women  for  immoral  purposes,  nor  have  we  found  evidence  of  an  organized 
traffic  in  women  for  immoral  purposes. 

WHITE  SLAVERY  DOES  EXIST. 

It  appears,  on  the  other  hand,  from  indictments  found  by  us  and  from  the  testi- 
mony of  witnesses  that  a  trafficking  in  the  bodies  of  women  does  exist  and  is  car- 
ried on  by  individuals  acting  for  their  own  individual  benefit,  and  that  these  per- 
sons are  known  to  each  other  and  are  more  or  less  informally  associated. 

We  have  also  found  that  associations  and  clubs,  composed  mainly  or  wholly 
of  those  profiting  from  vice,  have  existed,  and  that  one  such  association  still  exists. 
These  associations  and  clubs  are  analogous  to  commercial  bodies  in  other  fields, 
which,  while  not  directly  engaged  in  commerce,  are  composed  of  individuals  all 
of  whom  as  individuals  are  so  engaged. 

The  "incorporated  syndicates"  and  "international  bands"  referred  to  in  pub- 
lished statements,  we  find  to  be  such  informal  relations  as  have  just  been  spoken 
of,  while  the  "international  headquarters,"  "clearing  houses"  and  "pretentious 
clubhouses"  mentioned  are  cafes  or  other  so-called  "hang-outs"  where  people  inter- 
ested in  the  various  branches  of  the  business  resort.  These  and  the  houses  of 
prostitution  are  also  referred  to  as  "markets." 

The  "dealers"  and  "operators"  are  the  so-called  "pimps"  and  "procurers,"  the 
"pimp"  being  referred  to  as  the  "retailer"  and  the  manager  of  houses  as  the 
"wholesaler." 

The  only  association  composed  mainly  or  wholly  of  those  profiting  from  vice,  of 
the  present  existence  of  which  we  have  evidence,  is  the  New  York  Independent  Benev- 
olent Association,  organized  in  this  city  in  1894  and  incorporated  in  1896.  This 
association  has  had  an  average  membership  of  about  100,  Its  alleged  purpose  is  to 
assist  its  members  in  case  of  illness,  to  give  aid  in  case  of  death  and  to  assure 
proper  burial  rites. 

After  an  exhaustive  investigation  into  the  activities  of  the  association  and  of 
its  members  we  find  no  evidence  that  the  association  as  such  does  now  or  has  ever 
trafficked  in  women,  but  tliat  such  traffic  is  being  or  has  been  carried  on  by  various 
members  as  individuals.  We  find  that  the  members  of  this  association  are  scattered 
in  many  cities  throughout  the  United  States.  From  the  testimony  adduced  it  ap- 
pears probable  that  the  social  relations  of  the  members  and  the  opportunity  thereby 
afforded  of  communicating  with  one  another  in  various  cities  have  facilitated  the 
conduct  of  their  individual  business. 

On  one  occasion  where  a  member  was  convicted  of  maintaining  a  disorderly 
house  and  a  fine  of  $1,000  was  imposed  upon  him  in  the  City  of  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  the  association  voted  $500  for  his  aid.  On  another  occasion  in  the  City  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  where  several  of  the  members  of  the  association  were  arrested 
on  the  charge  of  keeping  and  maintaining  disorderly  houses,  and  one  member  was 
in  prison,  the  then  President  went  to  Newark,  declared  to  the  Under  Sheriff  that 
he  was  the  President  of  the  New  York  Independent  Benevolent  Association,  and 
entered  into  negotiations  with  the  authorities  in  Newark  on  behalf  of  the  members 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

who  had  been  arrested.     We  have,  however,  no  evidence  of  any  such  i 
the  County  of  New  York. 

It  appears  from  the  testimony  of  various  members  and  ex-members  of  the  said 
Association  that  its  membership  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  persons  who  are 
now  or  have  been  engaged  in  the  operation  of  disorderly  houses  or  who  are  living 
or  have  lived  directly  or  indirectly  upon  the  proceeds  of  women's  shame.  None  of 
these  witnesses,  in  answer  to  specific  questions,  could  name  more  than  one  or  two 
present  or  past  members  whose  records  did  not  show  them  to  have  lived  at  some 
time  upon  the  proceeds  of  prostitution  in  one  form  or  another.  They  claim,  how- 
ever, that  all  members  who  have  been  convicted  of  a  crime  are  expelled  from  the 
organization  when  the  proof  of  that  fact  has  been  submitted,  the  offence  apparently 
being  not  the  commission  of  a  crime,  but  conviction.  It  would  appear  that  this 
procedure  is  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  individual  if  possible,  and,  failing  in 
that,  of  freeing  the  Association  from  criticism. 

GIRLS  BOUGHT  FOR  $60  AND  $75. 

Finding  no  evidence  of  an  organized  traffic  in  women,  but  of  a  traffic  carried  on 
by  individuals,  we  have  made  a  special  and  careful  investigation  along  this  line. 
Owing  to  the  publicity  given  to  the  inquiry  at  its  inception,  it  has  been  difficult 
to  get  legal  evidence  of  the  actual  purchase  and  sale  of  women  for  immoral  pur- 
poses, and  our  investigators  have  been  informed  in  different  quarters  that  a  number 
of  formerly  active  dealers  in  women  had  either  temporarily  gone  out  of  business 
or  had  transferred  their  activities  to  other  cities.  However,  five  self-declared  dealers 
in  women  had  agreed  upon  various  occasions  to  supply  women  to  our  agents,  but 
because  of  their  extreme  caution  and  the  fear  aroused  by  the  continued  sitting  of 
this  grand  jury,  these  promises  were  fulfilled  in  only  two  instances,  in  each  of  which 
two  girls  were  secured  for  our  agents  at  a  price,  in  the  one  case  of  $60  each  and  in 
the  other  of  $75  each.  Indictments  have  been  found  against  these  two  persons;  one 
pleaded  guilty  and  the  other  was  convicted  on  trial. 

All  of  these  parties  boasted  to  our  investigators  of  their  extensive  local  and 
interstate  operations  in  the  recent  past.  They  specifically  mentioned  the  cities  to 
which  they  had  forwarded  women  and  described  their  operations  as  having  at  that 
time  been  free  from  danger  of  detection. 

Our  investigators  also  testified  as  to  the  methods  and  means  used  by  these 
people  in  replenishing  the  supply  of  women  and  in  entrapping  innocent  girls. 

Quoting  again  from  Your  Honor's  charge: 

"This  traffic  in  women,  it  is  charged,  follows  two  main  objects:  First,  the  pro- 
curing of  women  of  previous  chaste  character,  who  through  force,  duress  or  deceit 
are  finally  made  to  live  lives  of  prostitution;  second,  the  procuring  of  women  who 
are  already  prostitutes  and  placing  them  with  their  consent  in  houses  where  they 
may  ply  their  trade." 

Under  the  first  heading,  namely,  the  procuring  of  women  of  previous  chaste 
character,  we  find  the  most  active  foree  to  be  the  so-called  "pimp."  There  are  in 
the  county  of  New  York  a  considerable  and  increasing  number  of  these  creatures 
who  live,  wholly  or  in  pad,  upon  the  earnings  of  girls  or  women  who  practise  pros- 
titution. With  promises  of  marriage,  of  fine  clothing,  of  greater  personal  independ- 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY 

ence,  these  men  often  induce  girls  to  live  with  them  and  after  a  brief  period,  with 
threats  of  exposure  or  of  physical  violence,  force  them  to  go  upon  the  streets  as 
common  prostitutes  and  to  turn  over  the  proceeds  of  their  shame  to  their  seducers, 
who  live  largely,  if  not  wholly,  upon  the  money  thus  earned  by  their  victims.  This 
system  is  illustrated  in  an  indictment  and  conviction  where  the  defendant  by  such 
promises  induced  a  girl  of  fifteen  to  leave  her  home  and  within  two  weeks  put  her 
on  the  streets  as  a  common  prostitute. 

We  find  also  that  these  persons  ill-treat  and  abuse  the  women  with  whom  they 
live  and  beat  them  at  times  in  order  to  force  them  to  greater  activity  and  longer 
hours  of  work  on  the  streets.  This  is  illustrated  in  the  case  of  another  defendant 
who  was  indicted  and  convicted  for  brutally  slashing  with  a  knife  the  face  of  "his 
girl"  and  leaving  her  disfigured  for  life,  merely  because  she  was  no  longer  willing 
to  prostitute  herself  for  his  benefit. 

In  this  connection  mention  should  be  made  of  the  moving  picture  shows  as 
furnishing  to  this  class  of  persons  an  opportunity  for  leading  girls  into  a  life  of 
shame.  These  shows  naturally  attract  large  numbers  of  children,  and  while  the 
law  provides  that  no  child  under  the  age  of  sixteen  shall  be  allowed  to  attend 
them  unaccompanied  by  parent  or  guardian,  it  is  a  fact,  as  shown  by  the  number 
of  arrests  and  convictions,  that  the  law  is  frequently  violated.  Evidence  upon 
which  indictments  have  been  found  and  convictions  subsequently  secured,  has  been 
given  which  shows  that,  in  spite  of  the  activities  of  the  authorities  in  watching 
these  places,  many  girls  owe  their  ruin  to  frequenting  them.  An  instance  of  the 
above  is  the  case  of  a  defendant  indicted  by  this  grand  jury  and  convicted  before 
Your  Honor,  where  three  girls  met  as  many  young  men  at  a  Harlem  moving  picture 
show.  At  the  end  of  the  performance,  the  young  men  were  taken  by  an  employee 
of  the  place  through  a  door  in  the  rear  into  a  connecting  building — used  as  a  fire 
exit  for  the  moving  picture  show — where  they  met  the  girls,  and  all  passed  the 
night  together. 

The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  has  furnished  statistics 
showing  that  since  the  13th  day  of  December,  1906,  33  cases  of  rape  and  seduction 
originated  in  moving  picture  shows,  in  some  instances  the  perpetrators  being  the 
employees  of  the  shows. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  reference  to  bring  an  indictment  against  the  moving 
picture  show,  which  under  proper  restrictions  may  be  an  important  and  valuable 
educational  and  recreative  factor,  but  rather  to  point  out  possible  dangers  inherent 
in  performances  carried  on  in  the  darkness  and  the  importance  of  the  observance  of 
safeguards  by  parents  or  guardians,  and  of  the  strict  -enforcement  of  the  law  for  the 
protection  of  children. 

Under  the  second  heading  in  that  portion  of  Your  Honor's>  charge  quoted  above, 
which  refers  to  the  procuring  of  women  who  are  already  prostitutes  and  placing 
them  with  their  consent  in  houses  where  they  may  ply  their  trade,  the  grand  jury1 
has  made  a  special  study  of  the  class  of  disorderly  houses  commonly  known  as 
"Raines  Law  Hotels"  the  chief  business  of  many  of  which  is  to  provide  a  place 
where  women  of  the  streets  may  take  their  customers.  The  testimony  given  shows 
that  girls  who  brought  their  patrons  to  certain  hotels  of  this  class  were  allowed 
rebates  on  the  amount  charged  their  patrons  for  rooms.  Upon  the  evidence  brought 


ROCKEFELLER  GRAND  JURY  235 

before  us,  indictments  were  found  against  seven  of  the  most  notorious  of  these 
hotels. 

The  abuso  which  has  grown  up  in  the  conversion  of  the  so-called  massage  and 
manicure  parlor,  into  a  disorderly  house,  frequently  of  the  most  perverted  kind,  has 
received  our  careful  study  under  this  same  heading.  A  special  investigation 
has  been  made  of  some  125  massage  and  manicure  parlors,  in  this  county.  Less  than 
half  of  these  establishments  were  found  to  be  equipped  for  legitimate  purposes, 
most  of  them  being  nothing  but  disorderly  houses.  The  operators  in  such  places  had 
no  knowledge  of  massage  treatment  and  in  certain  cases  where  certificates  of  alleged 
massage  institutes  were  on  the  walls  of  the  premises  they  frankly  admitted  that 
they  had  no  training  in  massage  and  did  not  even  know  the  persons  whose  signa- 
tures appeared  on  the  certificates. 

In  view  of  the  above,  it  would  seem  important  that  these  parlors  should  be 
licensed  by  the  Health  Department  of  the  city  and  that  all  operators  in  them  should 
also  have  a  license  from  some  approved  health  or  medical  authority,  and  further, 
that  proper  supervision  should  be  exercised  to  insure  their  operation  for  the  legiti- 
mate purposes  for  which  they  are  licensed. 

The  spreading  of  prostitution  in  its  various  forms  from  the  well-known  disorderly 
house  into  apartment  and  tenement  houses  presents  a  very  grave  danger  to  the 
home.  It  is  inevitable  that  children  who  have  daily  evidence  of  the  apparent 
comfort,  ease,  and  oftentimes  luxury  in  which  women  of  this  class  live  should  not 
only  become  hardened  to  the  evil,  but  be  easi.ly  drawn  into  the  life.  The  existing 
laws  for  the  suppression  of  this  vice  in  apartment  and  tenement  houses  should 
be  most  rigorously  enforced  and  if  necessary  additional  legislation  enacted. 

But  of  the  evils  investigated  under  this  head,  the  most  menacing  is  the  so- 
called  "pimp"  who,  as  already  stated,  while  often  active  in  seducing  girls,  is,  to 
what  seems  to  be  an  increasing  extent,  living  on  the  earnings  of  the  professional 
prostitute,  constantly  driven  by  him  to  greater  activity  and  more  degrading 
practices. 

We  do  not  find  that  these  persons  are  formally  organized,  but  it  would  appear 
that  the  majority  of  the  women  of  the  street,  as  well  as  many  of  those  who 
practice  prostitution  in  houses  or  flats,  are  controlled  by  them  and  usually  pay 
their  entire  earnings  to  them.  They  prescribe  the  hours  and  working  places  for 
these  women,  assist  them  in  getting  customers,  protect  them  from  interference 
when  possible,  and  when  the  women  are  arrested  do  what  they  can  to  procure  their 
release.  While  "their  women"  are  at  work,  they  spend  much  of  their  time  in 
saloons  and  other  resorts  where  they  gather  socially.  Although  operating  individ- 
ually their  common  interest  leads  them  to  co-operate  for  mutual  protection  or  for 
the  recovery  of  women  who  may  desert  them,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  their 
authority  over  their  particular  women.  It  is  an  unwritten  law  among  these  men 
that  the  authority  of  the  individual  over  the  woman  or  women  controlled  by  him 
is  unquestioned  by  his  associates  to  whatever  extreme  it  may  be  carried. 

To  obtain  a  conviction  against  one  of  this  class  is  most  difficult,  for  through 
fear  or  personal  liking,  "his  woman"  is  loath  to  become  a  witness  against  him, 
and  without  her  evidence  conviction  is  almost  impossible. 

Whatever  one  may  think  of  the  woman  who  adopts  the  profession  of  a  prosti- 


236  ROCKEFELLER  GRAKD  JURY 

tute  by  choice,  all  must  agree  that  the  man  who  in  cold  blood  exploits  a  woman's 
body  for  his  own  support  and  profit  is  vile  and  despicable  beyond  expression. 
Only  through  the  arousing  of  an  intelligent  and  determined  public  sentiment  which 
will  back  up  the  forces  of  law  in  their  effort  to  ferret  out  and  bring  to  justice  the 
members  of  this  debased  class,  is  there  hope  of  stamping  out  those  vilest  of  human 
beings  found  today  in  the  leading  cities  of  this  and  other  lands. 

THE  GRAND  JURY'S  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  we  recommend : 

1.  That  no  effort  be  spared  in  bringing  to  justice  the  so-called 
' '  pimp. ' '    When  the  character  and  prevalence  of  these  creatures 
are  more  fully  realized  and  public  sentiment  aroused  regarding 
them,  the  inadequate  punishment  now  imposed  should  be  in- 
creased and  every  legitimate  means  devised  and  put  into  execu- 
tion to  exterminate  them. 

2.  That  the  existing  laws  be  more  rigidly  enforced  to  safe- 
guard the  patrons  of  the  moving-picture  shows,  and  that  parents 
and  guardians  exercise  more  careful  supervision  over  their  chil- 
dren in  connection  with  their  attendance  upon  these  shows. 

3.  That  vigorous  efforts  be  made  to  minimize  the  possibility  of 
the  Eaines-Law  Hotel  becoming  a  disorderly  house,  and  that 
where  necessary  proper  supervision  and  inspection  looking  to- 
ward that  end  be  provided. 

4.  That  the  so-called  massage  and  manicure  parlors  be  put 
under  the  control  of  the  Health  Department ;  that  a  license  from 
this  department  be  required  for  their  operation ;  that  certificates 
be  granted  to  operators  only  by  some  approved  medical  author- 
ity, and  that  proper  measures  be  taken  to  enforce  these  laws. 

5.  That  the  laws  relating  to  prostitution  in  apartment  and  ten- 
ement houses  be  rigidly  enforced,  and  that  the  present  laws  be 
supplemented  if  necessary. 

6.  That  a  commission  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor  to  make  a 
careful  study  of  the  laws  relating  to  and  the  methods  of  deal- 
ing with  the  social  evil  in  the  leading  cities  of  this  country  and 
of  Europe,  with  a  view  to  devising  the  most  effective  means  of 
minimizing  the  evil  in  this  city. 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER,  JR., 

GEO.  F.  CRANE,  Secretary.  Foreman. 

Dated,  June  9, 1910. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED. 

"The  Boston  Hypocrisy"— How  the  Author  Awakened  the  New  Englandera 
—The  White  Slave  Trade  flourishing— Heroic  work  against  the  Evil- 
Brought  to  the  bar  of  Justice — A  Brutal  Fiend— Let  the  good  work  go  on. 

Once  upon  a  time  a  writer  had  the  temerity  to  write  an  article 
styled,  "The  Boston  Hypocrisy. "  It  was  printed  in  Boston 
papers,  copied  in  magazines  and  reprinted  in  books. 

The  article  precipitated  much  criticism  and  some  abuse.  In 
brief,  it  showed  that  Boston,  like  other  American  cities,  waB 
housing  girl  traders,  and  yet  the  city  authorities  and  the  good 
people  there  were  prone  to  shut  their  eyes  and  deny  its  existence. 
A  principal  object  of  the  article  was  to  arouse  the  people  to  ac- 
tion. It  did  it. 

Naturally  a  city  will  defend  its  fair  name,  yet  it  is  much  more 
creditable  to  acknowledge  the  truth  and  efface  the  cause  of  crit- 
icism. 

Investigation  proved  that  procurers  are  at  work  in  New  Eng- 
land. Massachusetts,  stirred  by  the  article  and  aroused  to  duty 
through  the  excellent  work  of  the  New  England  Watch  and  Ward 
Society,  passed  a  law  to  punish  the  panders.  Before  the  law 
was  passed,  procurers  were  arrested  but  often  went  unpunished 
because  of  the  loopholes  in  the  old  law.  Since  the  passage  of  the 
law  making  pandering  an  offense,  several  dealers  in  girls  have 
been  brought  to  the  bar  of  justice. 

Nine  months  in  the  House  of  Correction  was  the  sentence  im- 
posed on  Louis  DeFranzio  of  the  north  end  of  Boston,  who 
pleaded  guilty  in  the  superior  court  before  Justice  Sanderson  on 
August  10, 1910,  to  a  white  slave  indictment.  The  girl  whom  he 
caused  to  lead  a  life  of  vice  was  Sallie  A ,  who  was  a  native 

237 


238  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

of  Nova  Scotia,  Canada.  She  told  of  the  attempts  she  had  made 
to  break  away  from  the  immoral  surroundings,  but  each  time 
DeFranzio  would  hold  her  in  check. 

A  few  days  prior  to  the  conviction  of  DeFranzio,  another 
young  pander  was  found  guilty.  This  fellow  was  Edward  J. 
Keegan  of  the  south  end.  It  was  on  the  third  day  of  August  that 
he  received  his  final  sentence.  Keegan,  who  had  been  convicted 
the  month  before  by  a  lower  court,  had  appealed  his  case.  But 
the  higher  court  found  him  guilty  on  the  charge  of  enticing  and 
procuring  Elsa  Jones.  His  sentence  was  three  months  in  the 
house  of  correction. 

Elsa  made  allegations  of  cruel  treatment  on  the  part  of  Kee- 
gan. Often  she  said  he  beat  her.  On  one  occasion  the  girl  said 
Keegan  grabbed  her  by  the  throat,  so  that  for  a  time  she  could 
scarcely  breathe,  and  told  her  that  he  "  would  do  worse  than 
that — that  he  would  kill  her. ' '  When  he  could  not  get  money 
from  her  lust  on  another  occasion,  he  hit  her  in  the  mouth  and 
jarred  her  teeth  loose.  Frequently,  she  said,  he  hit  her  in  the 
mouth  and  jarred  her  teeth  loose.  Frequently,  she  said,  he  hit 
her  so  hard  in  the  face  that  the  blood  would  come.  He  did  abso- 
lutely no  work,  she  claimed,  and  her  immoral  earnings  were  the 
means  of  his  support. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED. 

Once  upon  a  time  a  writer  had  the  temerity  to  write  an  article 
styled  "The  Boston  Hypocrisy. "  It  was  printed  in  Boston 
papers,  copied  in  magazines  and  reprinted  in  books. 

The  article  incited  much  criticism  and  some  abuse.  In  brief 
it  showed  that  Boston,  like  other  American  cities,  was  hous- 
ing girl  traders,  and  yet  the  city  authorities  and  the  good  people 
there  were  prone  to  shut  their  eyes  and  deny  its  existence.  A 
principal  object  of  the  article  was  to  arouse  the  people  to  action. 
It  did  it. 

Naturally  a  city  will  defend  its  fair  name,  yet  it  is  much  more 
creditable  to  acknowledge  the  truth  and  efface  the  cause  of  crit- 
icism. 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  239 

Investigation  proved  that  procurers  are  at  work  in  New  Eng- 
land. Massachusetts  stirred  by  the  article  and  aroused  to  duty 
through  the  excellent  work  of  the  New  England  Watch  and 
Ward  Society  passed  a  law  to  punish  the  panders.  Before  the 
law  was  passed  procurers  were  arrested,  but  often  went  unpun- 
ished because  of  the  loop-holes  in  the  old  law.  Since  the  passage 
of  the  law  making  pandering  an  offense  several  dealers  in  girls 
have  been  brought  to  the  bar  of  justice. 

The  passage  of  the  law  and  the  subsequent  prosecutions  have 
mainly  been  the  work  of  the  excellent  and  energetic  Secretary 
of  the  New  England  Watch  and  Ward  Society  of  Boston,  J. 
Frank  Chase,  whose  article  "Pandering  Around  Plymouth 
Bock,  comprises  the  major  portion  of  this  chapter.  He  was 
fully  alive  to  the  situation  long  before  the  new  laws  were  passed 
as  the  following  extract  from  his  report  of  September  28th, 
1909,  will  show: 

* '  Heading  the  list  of  the  cancerous  growth  is  the  White  Slave 
Traffic.  This  consists  of  enticing  young  girls  to  their  ruin  and 
selling  them  into  immoral  houses  where  they  are  kept  by  heinous 
methods  from  their  freedom  until  they  have  sunk  so  low  that 
there  is  no  inclination  to  forsake  the  life  into  which  they  have 
been  dragged.  It  is,  in  a  sentence,  the  making  of  good  women 
bad,  and  bad  women  worse,  for  money,  by  selling  them  into  the 
most  miserable  slavery. 

HUNDREDS  OF  WHITE  SLAVES  ANNUALLY  IN  BOSTON. 

"From  evidence  your  agents  have  procured,  we  believe  the 
annual  traffic  in  human  souls  in  this  city  (Boston)  for  this  pur- 
pose amounts   to  hundreds.     These  include  the  new  victims 
which  are  annually  needed  to  fill  vacancies  as  well  as  the  demand 
for  new  material,  in  the  brothels  of  Greater  Boston." 
Again  in  his  report  to  January,  1910,  he  says : 
"Your  officers  are  investigating  this  traffic  in  Boston,  and 
much  important  evidence  is  being  collected  for  future  use. 
Action  in  this  hinges  largely  on  the  outcome  of  legislation  in 
which  your  Society  is  co-operating  with  other  organizations. 


240  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

' '  There  is  one  prolific  means  by  which  this  traffic  is  abetted 
and  made  possible  through  existing  law,  though  one  not  intended 
for  that  purpose.  Our  law  gives  the  keeper  of  a  lodging  or 
boarding  house  a  lien  upon  the  effects  of  a  lodger  for  debt. 
This  is  used  with  dire  effect  by  persons  keeping  immoral  houses. 
The  street  clothes  of  an  inmate  are  exchanged  for  light  cloth- 
ing, and  other  wearing  apparel  locked  up.  The  debts  sure  to  be 
contracted  furnish  a  means  of  and  excuse  for  preventing  the 
victim  from  regaining  her  liberty  until  all  desire  for  flight  has 
been  crushed  out. 

There  must  be  better  legislation  against  the  practices  of  the 
White  Slave  Traffic  or  procuring,  pandering  and  pimping.  Other 
states  have  already  passed  laws :  Congress  has  legislated  in  re- 
sponse to  the  message  of  President  Taft.  Now  Massachusetts 
must  meet  the  issue.  ' ' 

That  Massachusetts  did  meet  the  issue  is  proven  by  the  fol- 
lowing article. 

PANDERING  AROUND  PLYMOUTH  ROCK. 

By  J.  Frank  Chase. 
Secretary,  The  New  England  Watch  and  Ward  Society  of  Boston. 

The  " White  Slave  Laws''  were  incorporated  into  the  Massa- 
chusetts Statutes  by  amending  previous  laws  against  various 
and  somewhat  similar  forms  of  immorality.  One  entirely  new 
law  was  passed  which  the  writer  borrowed  almost  verbatim  et 
literatime  from  Clifford  G.  Roe,  Esq.,  of  Chicago,  and  with 
which  subject  no  previous  law  ever  dealt.  It  reads:  "Chapter 
424,  Sect.  5,  Acts  1910.  Whoever  knowing  a  female  to  be  a  pros- 
titute shall  live  or  derive  support  or  maintenance  in  whole  or  in 
part  from  the  earnings  or  proceeds  of  the  prostitution  of  such 
prostitute,  or  from  moneys  loaned  or  advanced  to  her  or  charged 
against  her  by  any  keeper  or  manager  or  inmate  of  a  house  or 
other  place  where  prostitution  is  practiced  or  allowed,  shall  be 
punished  in  the  State  prison  for  not  more  than  one  year  or  by 
a  fine  of  not  more  than  $1,000,  or  both  such  fine  and  imprison- 
ment." 


Copyright  by  The  Midnight  Mission 

STEEPED  IN  SIN,  HE  LOOKS  ON  WITH  INDIFFERENCE. 

A  young  man  was  one  night  standing  on  the  steps  of  a  h<m<«'  of 
shame,  looking  indifferently  on  a  missionary  meeting  out  on  the  curl). 
The  words  of  the  speaker  were  'so  true  and  forceful  that  he  turned 
from  his  path  of  sin. 


Copyright  by  The  Midnight  Mission 

INDIFFERENCE   TURNED  TO   REPENTANCE. 

The  indifferent  young  man  is  shown  on  his  knees,  asking  prayers  that 
he  may  keep  the  path  of  righteousness. 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  241 

This  law  has  been  the  most  useful  of  all  the  laws  against  these 
types  of  offences  and  has  been  frequently  used  in  this  State. 

Boston,  the  largest  city  of  New  England,  maintains  a  policy 
of  self-respect  toward  the  problems  of  "the  social  evil."  It 
finds  this  policy  to  be  the  wisest,  most  practical  and  best  method 
of  handling  this,  at  best,  difficult  question.  Of  course  it  does  not 
completely  eradicate  immorality,  but  it  does  control  it  better 
they  any  other  method. 

The  laws  against  arson,  burglary,  pickpocketing,  or  even 
murder,  do  not  wholly  eradicate  them,  but  they  repress  them 
better  than  they  would  suppress  by  segregating  them  or  by  li- 
censing them  to  do  business  under  certain  restrictions. 

Yet  in  spite  of  Boston's  earnest  suppression  of  the  houses 
of  shame  cases  of  White  Slavery  have  been  found  and  pros- 
ecuted. 


BREAKING  UP  THE  PANAMA  GANG. 

The  law  went  into  force  May  23,  1910. 

The  first  case  prosecuted  under  the  White  Slave  Laws  was 
that  of  the  Panama  Gang.  This  gang  was  found  to  contain 
about  ten  members  and  was  bound  together  by  about  the  same 
bond  as  a  gang  of  pickpockets,  or  by  a  common  understanding 
and  peril. 

Though  some  evidence  was  received  against  all  the  members 
it  could  be  used  effectually  only  against  one  member,  Max  Perez, 
before  the  whole  gang  was  apprised.  This  member  had  to  be 
arrested  to  prevent  his  committing  an  outrage  on  his  intended 
victim.  He  was  arrested  charged  with  procuring  a  woman  for  an 
immoral  life  and  also  under  the  above  law  for  illegal  support 
and  maintenance.  At  the  time  of  his  arrest  incriminating  let- 
ters were  found  upon  him  and  his  alleged  victim  which  made 
with  the  admissions  secured  by  private  detectives  before  his 
arrest,  a  complete  case  against  him. 

The  letters  speak  for  themselves. 

16 


242  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

LETTERS  SEIZED  BY  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  WATCH  AND  WARD  SOCIETY. 

Letters  from  Frieda  to  Max,  seized  on  Max  at  time  of  his  ar- 
rest, June  23,  1910. 

(Translated  from  the  German.) 

"Boston,  7th  of  May,  1910. 
Dear  Max: 

Thy  cards  I  have  received.  My  best  thanks  for  the  same.  Thereby,  I  have  seen 
that  thou  amusest  thyself  very  well  in  New  York.  Unfortunately,  to  my  greatest 
regret,  I  can  give  you  no  such  joyous  news  of  myself,  as  I  do  not  feel  at  all  well, 
I  was  on  Friday,  and  again  today,  at  a  physician's.  I  have  such  pain  where  the 
abscess  was  and  also  inside,  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  stay  with  a  man.  Dr. 
Sawyer  has  sternly  commanded  that  I  must  stay  with  no  man  and  must  come  again 
on  Monday,  so  you  can  see  that  you  cannot  expect  much  money.  Friday  I  made 
nothing  and  also  today,  yet  if  thou  must  have  $20,  I  can  send  you  $10. 

Well,  then,  I  await  your  kind  answer,  and  hope  that  thou  comest  quickly  home. 
It  was,  indeed,  thoughtless  of  thee,  this  trip  to  New  York,  but  it  can't  be  helped, 
I  hope  thou  comest  soon  home  and  givest  me  a  little  rest. 

Thy  Frieda. 

Many  greetings  on  Max  with  Bertha  and  the  others.  Come  home  soon.  I 
cannot  endure  it  so  wholly  alone." 

This  letter  postmarked  May  27,  8  P.  M. 

"Boston,  Friday. 
Dear  Max: 

I  reached  Boston  all  right.  Unfortunately  my  wish  to  get  right  to  work  has 
not  been  fulfilled,  for  I  am  bleeding  so  much  that  I  scarcely  believe  that  I  shall  be 
able  to  work  before  Monday.  In  any  case,  there  is  nothing  to  be  done.  We  always 
have  good  luck;  that  thou  knowest  without  my  saying  it,  but  by  courage,  it  will 
work  out  somehow  or  other.  Mrs.  Peters'  proverb  'who  makes  music  in  summer, 
must  also  dance  when  it  freezes.' 

Dear  Max,  when  I  arrived  in  Boston,  I  went  first  to  Folie's  and  slept  with  her 
that  evening.  The  next  day,  that  is  today  I  have  hired  a  room,  and  am  paying  $3. 
I  did  not  think  it  would  come  so  hard.  I  am  at  41  Dwight  Street,  in  the  same  room 
in  a  back  parlor,  until  I  look  about  and  then  perhaps  hire  a  cheaper  one.  I  hope 
everything  is  well  with  you. 

Folie  and  Judge  also,  however,  both  say  it  is  so  bad  it  is  good.  When  they  break 
luck,  it  ia  to  be  hoped  it  will  come  better. 

Many  greetings  to  all,  from 

Your  Frieda." 

Postmarked  June  2nd. 

"Boston,  Tuesday. 
Dear  Max: 

I  have  received  thy  dear  sweet  letter.  My  best  thanks  for  the  same.  It  greatly 
pleased  me  and,  indeed,  most  of  all,  that  you  are  willing  to  come  home.  Also  I  would 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  243 

that  you  were  here.  Don't  think  that  I  make  more  money  when  thou  art  away,  for 
to  freely  confess,  I  don't  feel  any  special  desire  for  the  night. 

Well  then,  in  the  hope  that  this  letter  finds  thee  well  and  that  thou  wishes,  as 
I  do,  and  coraest  home  as  soon  as  possible,  I  remain 
Thy  ever-loving  Frieda. 

I  send  the  wished-for  $25;  everything  which  I  have.  Greetings  on  all  the 
others,  dear  Max.  When  thou  comest,  bring  Folie  a  present,  first,  because  you  owe 
it  to  her  for  a  long  time  and  second,  she  has  done  me  also  a  favor.  Well  then,  yet 
again,  hoping  to  see  you  well." 

"Boston,  2nd  of  June,  1910. 
Dear  Max: 

Thy  letter  received  and  I  see  thereby  that  thou  thinkest  it  better  to  remain  in 
New  York,  for  I  should  not  now  be  able,  if  things  are  not  better,  to  get  a  living  for 
two.  All  I  have  made  in  two  days  is  $5.50,  which  is  scarcely  enough  to  live.  The 
money  that  I  sent  you  was  from  Saturday  and  Monday.  This  week  I  have  practi- 
cally made  nothing.  However,  I  have  done  my  best.  Well,  therefore,  do  what  you 
think  best. 

Looking  forward  to  a  speedy  answer,  from 

Thy  Frieda. 

Were  you  so  tired  of  this  wretched  life  as  I,  you  would  be  more  merciful  to  me. 
Folie  will  write  herself  to  Bertha." 

By  special  investigation  the  story  of  this  victim  was  pieced 
out.  She  had  been  a  hard  working  and  poor  girl  in  Germany 
and  had  come  to  this  country  with  her  sister.  On  the  steamer 
coming  over  she  had  met  her  captor  who  had  enticed  her.  She 
had  left  a  soldier  lover  and  intended  husband  behind  her  as  the 
letter  seized  in  her  possession  shows. 

"2nd  of  June,  1906. 
Dear  Frieda: 

First,  your  good  health  for  the  New  Year  and  then  Merry  Christmas.  I  hope 
you  had  a  good  time.  I  can,  unfortunately,  not  say  the  same  of  myself,  for  I  have 
never  had  such  a  horrid  ending  of  the  year.  Indirectly  I  can  reproach  you  for  this, 
because  it  will  soon  be  a  year  since  you  left  me,  but  I  will  not-  reproach  thee  any 
more,  after  I  have  tortured  you  so  long  with  my  silence,  although  several  times  I 
began  a  letter  for  you,  but  have  always  destroyed  the  same,  in  a  feeling  of  the  soul, 
which  I  cannot  describe  to  you,  and  cannot  tell  even  now  the  reason  for  it,  but  all 
this  is  no  reason  to  call  me  a  faithless  man  and  a  girl  hunter,  for  I  have  sought  you 
as  a  child,  lovedj  you  and  cannot  let  go  of  you  for  any  price  in  the  world,  dear 

treasure.    Have  you  thought  me  such  a or  hast  thou  another  conception  of  me. 

If  no,  how  could  you  accept  my  court?  If  yes,  why  did  you  spurn  me  in  such  a 
shameful  way?  Dear  Frieda,  I  intended  to  visit  you  Christmas,  but  as  my  superior 
was  given  a  holiday  because  he  had  engaged  himself,  I  had  to  forfeit  mine,  naturally, 
but  am  promised  a  holiday  Easter.  We  are  coming  back  shortly  before  Easter  from 


244  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

the  Parade  ground  at  and  right  after  I  have  my  vacation  and  then  I  beg 

your  pardon  for  my  neglect  on  my  knees.    It  is  simply  that  I  have  been  too  busy 
to  come  to  see  you. 

Now  all  this  in  the  hope  that  I  once  more  receive  thy  well  wishes,  and  with  a 
thousand  greetings,  remain, 

Thy  ever  loving  Willie." 

This  letter  was  found  with  twenty-six  others  tied  up  in  a  little 
red  ribbon  in  her  trunk  and  kept  for  memory's  sake. 

Letters  from  him  which  were  proved  genuine  by  securing 
standards  of  his  handwriting  and  rendered  admissible  by  show- 
ing them  to  be  answers  to  her  letters,  completed  the  chain  of 
evidence. 

Max  Peretz  was  found  guilty  after  a  stubborn  fight  and  sen- 
tenced to  the  maximum  penalty  in  the  state  prison. 

The  "victim"  was  deported  to  her  home  in  Germany  and 
after  her  deportation  the  following  letter  was  received  from 
her  sister  whose  aid  to  prove  our  case  we  had  solicited. 

"Newport,  August  25,  1910. 
Greatly  esteemed  Mr.  Secretary: 

I  received  your  letter  from  which  I  see  that  my  sister  Frieda  is  in  a  difficult 
position  and  I  am  therefore  willing,  being  her  sister  Anna,  to  help  her ;  as  far  as  my 
sister  is  concerned  I  would  say  that  she  always  wrote  me  that  she  was  married  and 
I  used  to  ask  her  the  occupation  of  her  husband  and  I  never  got  any  reply  to  that 
particular  item. 

Then  I  was  for  some  time  in  Germany  on  a  visit  and  returned  on  the  12th  of 
August  so  that  the  letter  which  you,  esteemed  Mr.  Secretary,  had  addressed  to  me, 
went  first  to  Montclair  and  then  to  New  York.  I  therefore  wish  to  trouble  you  with 
a  request.  I  hope  that  my  sister  Frieda  is  still  here  and  as  regards  all  the  rest  I 
would  say1  that  my  sister  Frieda  came  with  me  to  the  United  States  on  the  SS. 
Deutschland  in  the  year  1907  sailing  from  Hamburg  on  the  16th  of  May  and  arriv- 
ing on  the  23rd  of  May  and  she  was  first  with  me  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  then  she 
went  to  New  York  and  from  there  to  Boston  and  there  I  presume  she  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  man  and  I  never  believed  thoroughly  in  the  matter.  Therefore 
I  sent  my  husband  once  to  that  city  and  tried  to  find  out  whether  she  was  married 
to  the  man  and  my  husband  did  not  quite  believe  either  that  such  was  the  case  and 
T  should  have  gone  there  myself,  but  she  wrote  me  then  that  she  was  in  the  hos- 
pital suffering  from  rheumatism  of  the  arm:  Thereupon  I  wrote  to  the  hospital 
and  the  reply  was  that  Frieda  was  there  to  be  treated  for  rheumatism;  there- 
fore I  no  longer  entertained  any  particular  thoughts  concerning  the  matter  and  then 
my  sister  wrote  for  money  and  I  helped  her,  sending  her  seven  dollars,  because  at 
that  time  I  was  still  in  Montclair  as  a  maid.  As  regards  the  handwriting  of  my 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  245 

fcister,  I  would  say  that  I  know  the  same  very  well.  To  be  sure  I  still  have  her 
receipt  for  the  money  which  she  received  from  Germany  from  her  guardian  and 
which  came  to  me  at  Montclair.  At  that  time  I  was  unmarried. 

I  have  only  been  married  for  a  few  years  and  therefore  I  want  to  tell  you  about 
that  gentleman  in  Germany  to  whom  you  called  my  attention.  He  is  an  old  German 

acquaintance   of  the   name   of  — at   Esslingen,   but   he   is   not   there  always. 

Otherwise  he  is  a  very  agreeable  and  pleasant  old  gentleman  whom  she  knew  when  a 
young  girl,  but  it  was  nothing  of  importance,  but  as  regards  the  other  matters,  I 
would  say  that  I  do  not  know  anything  about  them.  I  have  often  asked  her  about 
the  occupation  of  the  man  and  about  his  reputation  and  whether  he  was  a  German 
or  an  American  and  often  advised  her  to  come  to  me,  but  she  always  wrote  back 
that  this  was  impossible  and  that  perhaps  she  would  come  later  on. 

I  have  always  written  her  and  have  thought  a  great  deal  of  my  sister,  but  I 
never  thought  that  she  would  have  obeyed  such  a  man  and  would  have  become  un- 
fortunate. I  hope  I  shall  see  my  sister  Frieda  here  yet.  She*  must  not  go  back  to 
our  old  home,  because  of  the  pain  and  shame  for  my  brothers  and  sisters  in  Ger- 
many. It  is  sufficient  for  me  and  my  husband  and  my  brother  here  in  this  country 
that  a  German  girl  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  such  a  man.  Now,  I  cannot  tell 
whether  she  married  the  man  or  not,  because  she  was  unmarried  when  she  came  to 
the  United  States.  I  do  not  know  the  man  at  all.  I  wrote  her  that  I  would  like 
to  become  acquainted  with  her  husband,  but  as  matters  are  I  do  not  know  him  at  all. 
Perhaps  if  I  had  had  an  exact  address  I  would  have,  but  I  always  wrote  with  a 
certain  aversion,  because  I  always  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  she  had  been  married 
or  not. 

The  letters  were  sometimes  marked  sent  by  Frieda  and  at  other  times 

Frieda  —  — .  Therefore  I  would  ask  you,  my  dear  Mr.  Secretary,  when  the  court 
proceedings  take  place  -to  let  me  know  as  I  cannot  very  well  go  alone  as  I  do  not 
know  much  English  and  my  husband  must  then  get  furlough  and  this  is  not  so  easy 
to  get  in  the  navy. 

I  thank  you  most  sincerely  in  advance,  dear  sir. 

Respectfully, 

Anna  F. ." 


Later  we  learned  that  Frieda  had  arrived  safely  at  her  home 
and  under  the  good  influences  of  home  life  had  reformed  in 
character  and  become  a  useful  member  of  society. 

Another  case  prosecuted  was  ended  in  the  Superior  Court 
at  Plymouth  within  a  block  of  Plymouth  Rock,  the  fact  which 
gives  point  to  the  title  of  this  article. 

On  August  25th  a  young  woman  came  into  the  Watch  and 
Ward  office  with  the  following  note  addressed  to  a  man  in  Bos- 
ton which  the  woman  explained  was  given  her  to  deliver  to  the 


246  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

party  but  which  she  learned  ought  to  be  delivered  to  the  Watch 
and  Ward  Society.    It  read : 

"I  want  you  to  come  to  B — k — n  and  get  me  as  soon  as  you  can.  Beatrice  will 
show  you  the  place.  Do  come  at  once.  Please  come  at  once. 

Alice." 

The  officers  of  the  Watch  and  Ward  Society  at  once  went  with 
the  young  woman  to  the  place  and  found  the  other  young  wo- 
man. She  told  the  officers  that  she  and  her  friend  had  been 
imprisoned  in  this  second  class  hotel  and  kept  there  for  two 
weeks  and  compelled  to  receive  company  against  their  will  for 
which  their  captors,  Cacco  and  Poporgno  had  received  money. 

The  men  and  the  proprietor  were  tried,  convicted  and  given 
eighteen  months  each  in  the  House  of  Correction  at  Plymouth. 

A  PRISONER  CHAINED  TO  THE  WALL. 

A  third  case  shows  the  influence  of  the  hypnotic  drugs  upon 
the  White  Slave  crimes.  A  young  woman  from  a  country  dis- 
trict came  into  Boston  and  got  into  the  cocaine  habit.  A  negro 
named  Taylor  who  was  illegally  supplying  the  drug  to  users  took 
advantage  of  her  habit  to  get  her  into  his  den  by  supplying  her 
with  the  drug.  When  she  tried  to  get  away  he  beat  her,  and  when 
obliged  to  go  out  himself,  he  chained  her  to  the  wall  with  a  dog 
chain  and  a  padlock.  Watch  and  Ward  agents  who  were  en- 
gaged in  hunting  out  sellers  of  cocaine  found  her  chained  to 
the  wall.  When  discovered  on  a  raid  for  cocaine  she  was  al- 
most starving  and  begged  for  food.  None  was  air  hand  except 
a  half  loaf  of  mouldy  bread.  This  she  ate  greedily  and  yelled 
for  water.  It  was  a  pitiful  sight  and  a  policeman  said  ' i  I  have 
been  on  the  force  for  twenty  years,  but  I  never  saw  such  a  sight 
before." 

The  Boston  Transcript,  a  conservative  newspaper  gave  the 
following  account  of  the  affair: 

"Bound  with  chain  and  rope  and  suffering  from  starvation,  Mrs.  James  H.  Tay- 
lor, the  white  wife  of  a  Negro,  was  found  and  recued  by  the  police  of  the  East 
Dedham  street  station  during  a  cocaine  raid  last  night.  The  couple  live  in  the 
basement  of  the  hduse  at  58  Middlesex  street,  South  End.  and  Taylor  runs  a  shoe 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  247 

polishing  booth  in  the  front  room.  The  police  and  the  Watch  and  Ward  Society 
officiate,  who  participated  in  the  raid,  claim  that  this  shop  is  a  'blind'  and  that 
Taylor's  real  course  of  income  is  the  illegal  sale  of  drugs. 

"The  woman  married  this  man  two  months  ago,  and  he  tried  to  make  her  a 
helpmate  and  partner  to  his  traffic.  At  first,  it  is  said,  she  was  willing,  but  later 
she  refused.  Taylor  became  enraged  and  placed  an  iron  collar  around  her  neck. 
Attached  to  this  collar  was  a  chain  and  lock  which  he  fastened  to  the  wall.  The 
chain  was  so  short  that  the  woman  could  not  lie  down.  She  pleaded  for  a  cot,  and 
this  he  gave  her,  but  he  bound  her  hands  behind  her  back  with  rope.  She  was 
then  meted  out  starvation  rations,  beaten  and  kicked.  When  the  police  arrived  last 
night  Taylor  met  them  with  a  loaded  revolver,  but  he  was  quickly  overpowered. 
The  woman  was  released  and  immediately  asked  for  bread  and  water.  She  had  ahd 
only  one  meal  this  week.  A  bottle  of  cocaine  was  found  in  the  rooms.  Taylor  was 
lodged  in  a  cell  at  the  station  house  and  his  wife  was  taken  to  the  City  Hospital, 
where  she  will  stay  for  a  few  days." 

The  young  woman  testified  against  the  negro,  Taylor,  and  he 
was  convicted  and  given  six  to  eight  years  in  the  State  prison. 

The  last  case  to  be  discovered  by  the  Watch  and  Ward  So- 
ciety of  which  I  may  speak  was  that  of  a  young  woman  who  be- 
fore she  was  sixteen  years  of  age  was  procured  by  a  fake  mar- 
riage and  sold  into  a  resort.  On  the  first  night  of  her  honey- 
moon, before  she  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  she  was  sold  into  a 
life  of  shame  by  the  scoundred  who  had  promised  to  honor  and 
protect  her. 

But  all  these  cases  do  not  indicate  a  systematic  traffic,  but 
rather  that  wherever  prostitution  exists  there  white  slavery  may 
be  found.  If  these  things  can  happen  in  a  community  where  the 
policy  of  self-respect  rules,  what  must  take  place  in  communities 
where  no  effort  is  made  to  suppress  immorality  as  long  as  it  con- 
fines itself  within  a  restricted  area. 

The  previous  cases  are  due  wholly  to  the  work  of  the  New 
England  Watch  and  Ward  Society,  but  there  have  been  a  num- 
ber of  cases  worked  up  by  the  police  forces  of  various  cities  of 
Massachusetts,  with  which  no  one  person  could  well  be  familiar 
except  by  newspaper  reports. 

Massachusetts  certainly  is  keenly  alive  to  the  outrage  known 
as  the  traffic  in  girls,  and  is  determined  to  punish  those  who 
would  offend  in  this  line. 


248  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  have  had  some  cases  and  pros- 
ecuted them  vigorously  under  laws  passed  last  year. 

Maine,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  are  not  yet  alive  to  the 
modern  conditions  in  vice  and  have  done  nothing  to  curb  it. 

A  confirmation  of  the  above  proof  Mr.  Chase  has  given  that 
many  of  the  New  England  states  are  awakened  to  a  realization 
that  a  traffic  in  girls  does  exist  within  their  borders  is  the  fol- 
lowing statement  made  by  Anita,  a  Mexican  girl,  herself  pro- 
cured some  years  ago,  who  has  lived  in  many  New  England  cities 
and  many  houses  of  shame.  Of  late  years  she  has  acquired  a 
fairly  good  education,  and  is  devoting  much  time  to  the  better- 
ment of  fallen  girls  and  helping  in  their  rescue.  She  has  lived 
through  and  observed  everything  she  relates  and  knows  all  by 
bitter  experience: 

THE  WARP  AND  WOOF  OF  WHITE  SLAVERY. 

"The  poorer  class  of  Mexican  fathers  often  sell  their  inno- 
cent little  girls,  thirteen  and  fourteen  years  old.  Sometimes 
train  hands,  even  negro  porters  and  waiters  buy  these  girls  with 
American  dollars  and  the  girls  are  taken  to  American  cities,  and 
sold  into  houses  of  ill-fame. 

"Officers  and  sailors  of  the  small  Portuguese  Packets  plying 
between  Cape  Verde  Islands  and  New  England  ports  bring 
young  beautiful  girls  to  America  as  relatives,  sometimes  as 
stowaways,  always  as  concubines  to  be  left  stranded,  not  able  to 
speak  a  word  of  English,  in  some  immoral  house. 

"The  Canadian  French  girls  in  New  England,  it  would  seem 
are  easily  procured  for  an  immoral  life.  At  an  early  age  many 
of  these  girls  may  be  found  in  houses  in  all  the  mill  and  factory 
towns,  and  their  love  for  the  American  cadets  and  liquors  make 
them  very  desirable  boarders  in  houses  of  ill  fame,  and  they 
are  always  much  sought  for  as  they  are  tireless  workers  in  the 
houses. 

"I  know  of  one  city  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  and  not 
Boston,  either,  just  a  small  city,  where  a  few  years  ago,  and  I 
think  conditions  are  about  the  same  today,  where  about  ten 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  249 

negresses  kept  immoral  houses  and  boarded  only  white  girls, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions  where  the  girls  were  octoroons.  One 
house  in  particular  kept  from  ten  to  twenty  girls  always,  and  the 
girls  became  white  slaves  indeed  when  they  entered  that  place. 
There  was  one  instance  when  the  woman  who  owned  this  place 
was  arrested  for  buying  and  keeping  a  white  girl  under  fifteen 
years  of  age  there.  She  was  sentenced  to  one  year  in  prison 
and  her  house  was  never  closed  a  minute.  An  English  woman 
and  her  husband  ran  the  house  for  her  while  she  was  locked  up. 
No  girl  was  too  young  to  be  coaxed  or  procured  into  her  house, 
and  none  were  too  pretty,  or  the  family  too  good.  Young  girls 
were  sold  into  this  house  by  procurers,  and  they  were  never 
heard  of  in  the  outside  world  again.  This  woman  lived  in  luxury 
and  educated  her  children  from  the  proceeds  of  vice.  That  house 
exists  today,  and  has  for  over  thirty  odd  years. 

"  There  are  also  small  cities  in  Maine  and  New  Hampshire 
where  the  white  slave  traffic  is  carried  on,  Portsmouth  prin- 
cipally being  a  city  of  immoral  houses.  Places  where  this  busi- 
ness is  carried  on  as  Bangor  and  Portland  are  especially  interest- 
ing as  they  are  both  prohibition  cities. 

"While  the  cadets,  as  these  procurers  are  known  in  the  east, 
are  men  of  all  kinds  and  colors,  the  French  cadets  and  the  negro 
cadets  are  without  doubt  by  far  the  cruelest,  and  while  not  be- 
lievable, the  negroes  will  treat  white  woman  far  worse  than 
they  will  colored  women,  yet  he  beats  and  abuses  both.  The 
Frenchmen  always  beat  their  women  to  drive  them,  but  they  are 
more  constant  in  their  attentions  to  the  girls  they  own  as  slaves, 
and  do  not  seek  such  a  variety,  but  always  driving  his  slaves  in 
immoral  houses  to  their  utmost  limit  at  all  times. 

"The  Polish  Jewess,  is  also  to  be  found  in  New  England. 
However,  by  far  the  larger  number  are  in  New  York  and  Chi- 
cago. Sometimes  she  is  very  young. 

"Buffet  flats,  are  to  my  idea,  a  greater  menace,  more  to  be 
dreaded,  then  the  wide  open  sporting  houses.  The  flat,  or  apart- 
ment, becomes  known  to  both  sexes  quickly,  and  as  money  is  of- 
fered in  far  larger  sums  for  the  girls  in  the  flats  than  for  the 


250  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

girls  in  open  houses,  and  no  one  is  there  to  be  told,  she  does 
not  fear  that  any  one  will  hear  what  she  is  doing.  Many  school 
girls  are  coaxed  to  these  places  in  the  afternoons,  and  then 
they  disappear  from  home  only  to  become  hardened  prostitutes. 

"Many  times  white  women  either  married  to  negro  men  or 
living  with  them  could  well  be  watched,  as  they  soon  learn  how 
to  make  money  this  way.  The  men  bring  their  friends  and  the 
women  look  up  girls. 

"After  a  girl  is  enticed  into  a  flat  she  learns  of  houses  of  ill 
fame  in  other  cities,  and  she  has  a  ticket  sent  to  her,  or  the 
madam  of  the  flat,  who  is  generally  a  procuress,  sends  for  it 
herself,  and  the  girl  goes  for  the  first  time  to  live  in  an  immoral 
house. 

"The  police  do  not,  as  a  rule,  know  of  the  tickets  being  sent, 
and  therefore  keepers  of  houses  in  larger  cities  trade  with  each 
other,  and  send  girls  back  and  forth.  When  the  girls  become 
tired  of  one  place,  rather  than  let  her  get  away  from  the  life,  the 
madams  will  send  for  tickets,  and  likewise  she  will  send  tickets 
to  other  madams  for  girls  when  she  wishes  new  girls,  and  so  the 
traffic  in  girls  goes  on. '  * 

MORE  ABOUT  THE  FIGHT  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  New  England  states,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  have 
entered  the  fight  against  panders,  and  as  evidence  of  this  work 
many  of  these  people  are  being  hunted  down,  and  put  behind  iron 
bars. 

Many  other  instances  of  the  apprehension  and  prosecutions  of 
these  traffickers  could  be  set  forth. 

Among  some  of  these  was  the  case  of  Napoleon  St.  Lawrence, 
a  twenty-four  year  old  young  fellow,  who  was  accused  by  Eleanor 

B in  Providence,  Ehode  Island,  of  being  a  slave  trafficker. 

The  girl  said  that  she  had  been  in  the  Lancaster  School  at  Lan- 
caster, Massachusetts,  and  that  she  became  acquainted  with 
Lawrence  who  took  her  away.  Since  April,  1910,  Lawrence  had 
forced  her  into  an  immoral  life.  She  told  how  he  would  take 


NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED  251 

the  money  from  her  that  she  got  in  this  terrible  life,  and  when  she 
failed  to  get  any  money  he  beat  and  abused  her. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  July,  1910,  Lawrence  was  given 
his  just  punishment  for  his  misdeeds,  and  was  sentenced  in  the 
sixth  district  court  to  serve  one  year  in  the  state  work  house. 
The  girl  was  sent  back  to  Lancaster. 

Nine  months  in  the  House  of  Correction  was  the  sentence  im- 
posed on  Louis  De  Franzio  of  the  North  End  of  Boston  who 
pleaded  guilty  in  the  Superior  Court  before  Justice  Sanderson, 
on  August  10th,  1910,  to  a  white  slave  indictment.  The  girl 

whom  he  caused  to  lead  a  life  of  vice  was  Sybil  F who  was  a 

native  of  Nova  Scotia,  Canada.  She  told  of  the  attempts  she 
had  made  to  break  away  from  the  immoral  surroundings,  but 
each  time  De  Franzio  would  hold  her  in  check. 

A  few  days  prior  to  the  conviction  of  De  Franzio  another 
young  pander  was  found  guilty.  This  fellow  was  Edward  J. 
Keegan  of  the  South  End  of  Boston.  It  was  on  the  third  of 
August  that  he  received  his  final  sentence.  Keegan  who  had 
been  convicted  the  month  before  by  a  lower  court  had  appealed 
his  case.  But  the  higher  court  found  him  guilty  on  the  charge 

of  enticing  and  procuring  Mary  T .  His  sentence  was  three 

months  in  the  House  of  Correction. 

Mary  made  allegations  of  cruel  treatment  on  the  part  of 
Keegan.  Often  she  said  he  beat  her.  On  one  occasion  the  girl 
said  Keegan  grabbed  her  by  the  throat,  so  that  for  a  time  she 
could  scarcely  breathe,  and  told  her  that  he  "  would  do  worse 
than  that,  that  he  would  kill  her. ' '  When  he  could  not  get  money 
from  her  lust,  on  another  occasion  he  hit  her  in  the  mouth  and 
jarred  her  teeth  loose.  Frequently,  she  said,  he  hit  so  hard  in 
the  face  that  the  blood  would  flow.  He  did  absolutely  no  work, 
she  claimed,  and  her  immoral  'earnings  were  the  means  of  his 
support. 

It  was  Saturday,  the  thirteenth  of  August,  1910,  that  the  first 
woman  against  whom  a  " white  slave"  charge  in  Boston  was 
made,  received  a  sentence  in  the  Woman's  Reformatory  at  Sher- 


252  NEW  ENGLAND  STATES  AWAKENED 

born  by  Justice  Sanderson,  on  a  minor  charge  to  which  she 
pleaded  guilty. 

Hitherto  only  the  men  panders  had  been  caught  and  convicted 
of  " white  slavery,"  but  in  this  case  it  was  a  woman  known  as 
"Brookie  Bailey. "  She  was  about  twenty-five  years  old,  and 
lived  in  the  South  End.  It  was  alleged  that  she  induced  little 

seventeen  year  old  Bertha ,  an  orphan  to  leave  the  home 

where  she  was  staying  to  become  a  prostitute. 

All  of  these  cases  attest  the  correctness  of  the  conclusion 
that  a  traffic  in  girls  does  exist,  and  that  sooner  or  later  the 
problem  must  be  solved  by  all  the  states  of  our  United  domain, 
yes  by  all  the  civilized  countries  of  the  world.  Like  the  New 
England  states,  others  must  and  will  be  awakened, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

ARE  THERE  PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO? 
By  Rev.  Jacob  Nieto,  Rabbi  Congregation  Sherith  Israel,  San  Francisco,  California. 

The  "white  slave  traffic "  in  San  Francisco  has  not  yet  reached 
that  acute  stage  by  which  it  is  known  in  the  East. 

By  this  I  mean  that  the  attempts  made  by  men  in  this  city  to 
lure  girls  from  their  homes  for  immoral  purposes  have  not 
been  very  numerous  so  far.  This  I  attribute  to  the  activity  and 
energy  of  the  two  attorneys,  G.  C.  Ringolsky,  and  Benjamin 
Block,  who  have  volunteered  their  services  to  aid  me  not  only 
in  suppressing  this  form  of  vice,  but  in  preventing  men  from 
engaging  in  the  traffic. 

The  allurements  offered  the  girls  are  precisely  those  which  are 
offered  in  other  cities,  but  the  conditions  of  life  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, seem  of  themselves  in  a  large  degree  to  check  the  machina- 
tions of  these  traffickers  in  human  flesh,  and  leave  them  without 
any  protection  so  soon  as  detected. 

What  we  suffer  most  from  is  that  San  Francisco  is  a  place  en- 
route  for  men  who  are  notoriously  white  slave  traders,  who  im- 
port girls  from  Europe,  and  who  travel  through  the  United 
States  with  their  merchandise,  just  as  a  commercial  traveler 
does  with  his  samples. 

They  begin  at  the  port  of  entry  with  a  consignment  of  girls, 
who  have  been  promised  lucrative  positions,  and  travel  through 
the  various  cities  that  lead  to  Kansas  City,  thence  to  Texas, 
resting  their  victims  at  Long  Beach  near  Los  Angeles,  then  com- 
ing to  San  Francisco  for  a  term,  carrying  with  them  one  or  two 
or  three  women  as  the  case  may  be  so  as  to  supply  the  eight 
hour  shifts  common  in  the  houses  of  prostitution,  receiving  the 
money  when  the  period  of  service  is  ended,  and  living  with  the 
woman  or  women  in  some  hotel  near  the  location  of  operations. 

253 


254  PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO 

After  some  months  of  residence  in  San  Francisco,  the}'  take 
their  women  to  Portland,  thence  to  Seattle,  Spokane,  Butte, 
Helena,  Montana,  back  to  Chicago,  and  thence  to  the  port  of 
entry  where  it  is  impossible  to  tell  what  may  become  of  the 
previously  innocent  dupes  who  have  been  engulfed  in  a  sea  of 
corruption  for  the  benefit  of  the  male  malefactor  alone. 

It  is  proverbial  that  the  women  thus  used  never  have  anything 
that  they  can  call  their  own  at  the  end  of  this  miserable  pilgrim- 
age. 

In  the  cases  that  have  come  under  my  notice,  I  have  observed  a 
heartlessness  that  bespeaks  only  a  condition  which  must  be 
termed  unmoral. 

The  miscreants,  that  is  the  males,  have  absolutely  no  moral 
standard,  thinking  of  nothing  but  the  money  that  may  be  made, 
and  not  in  any  sense  hesitating  to  consider  the  means  by  which 
it  is  made,  and  look  upon  the  female  simply  as  a  merchant  re- 
gards his  assets. 

We,  in  California,  have  succeeded  in  passing  an  "  Anti  pander- 
ing and  pimping  law, ' '  similar  to  that  enacted  by  the  legislature 
in  the  State  of  Illinois,  so  that  in  future  we  will  not  be  forced  to 
charge  one  of  these  felons,  (as  I  choose  to  call  them)  with  va- 
grancy, which  may  or  may  not  be  made  to  stick,  but  actually  have 
them  brought  before  a  court  of  law,  to  answer  a  charge  of  felony, 
punishable  by  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary. 

Heretofore  we  had  the  same  class  to  meet  as  workers  in  other 
cities,  but  on  account  of  certain  individuals  who  are  running 
businesses  (and  in  this  case  the  ladies'  tailors  are  the  greatest 
offenders),  we  were  unable  to  convict  a  man  on  the  charge  of 
vagrancy,  because  one  of  these  ladies '  tailors,  no  doubt  from  per- 
sonal motives,  would  give  him  one  day's  work  in  a  week,  and  so 
make  it  impossible  for  us  to  obtain  a  conviction. 

The  cases  brought  to  my  notice  have  been  as  varied  as  those 
that  have  transpired  in  other  cities,  though  not  as  numerous. 
Men  have  engaged  themselves  to  girls  on  proposals  of  marriage, 
and  after  seducing  them  have  endeavored  to  make  them  lead 
lives  of  infamy  for  the  benefit  of  the  man, 


PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  255 

Girls  have  been  lured  from  their  fathers'  homes,  and  induced 
to  go  away  with  men,  who  though  married,  have  promised  to 
take  them  to  other  towns  and  marry  them.  Other  innocent  girls 
have  been  promised  positions  and  lured  to  offices  or  so-called 
offices  in  which  they  were  bed-room  attachments '  and  after  being 
induced  to  gratify  the  desire  of  the  pretended  advertiser  for 
help,  have  been  persuaded  to  stay  away  from  their  homes  for 
fear  of  detection,  and  the  subsequent  offer  of  a  place  where  no 
one  would  discover  the  girl  has  always  been  made. 

Our  method  of  procedure  except  in  flagrant  cases  has  always 
been  to  give  the  male  offender  except  he  had  lured  a  local  girl 
from  her  home,  an  opportunity  to  go  from  this  city  with  his 
wares,  (women),  within  twenty-four  hours;  or  go  to  jail  for  six 
months.  In  seventy-five  or  more  cases  this  plan  proved  effectual, 
in  75  or  more  cases  the  before  alluded  to  custom  of  the  ladies 
tailors  giving  a  man  one  days '  work  in  seven,  baffled  all  our  at- 
tempts to  clean  up  our  city. 

The  two  bills  lately  passed  and  signed  by  the  governor  of  this 
state  making  it  a  felony  for  any  man  to  accept  the  proceeds  of 
a  woman 's  prostitution,  leaves  us  a  fair  hand  to  operate  against 
these  rascals  in  the  future. 

We  have  one  man  doing  five  years  in  state's  prison,  another 
who  got  six  months  in  the  county  jail,  four  others  also  doing  time 
in  state 's  prison,  and  one  in  whose  case  the  jury  disagreed  and 
who  subsequently  was  permitted  to  escape  further  trial  by  leav- 
ing the  state. 

The  Althers  case  is  as  follows :  A  young  girl  aged  18  was  con- 
signed to  the  Jewish  Women's  Council  of  New  York  to  be  for- 
warded to  her  sister  in  San  Francisco.  On  her  arrival  here  she 
became  acquainted  with  Althers,  who  worked  in  a  ladies  tailoring 
established,  and  who  after  visiting  her  in  her  sister's  home,  did 
by  consent  of  that  sister  become  engaged  to  her.  He  invited  a 
couple  of  his  male  friends  to  dine  at  the  girl's  home,  so  that  he 
might  introduce  them  to  her.  Within  a  few  days  of  this  dinner 
party  he  took  his  intended  wife  down  town  and  induced  her  to  go 
with  him  into  a  common  lodging  house.  He  informed  her  that  it 


256  PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO 

was  customary  in  America  for  engaged  couples  to  cohabit  but 
that  she  should  not  tell  her  sister  because  she  being  old  fashioned 
would  not  approve.  The  girl  resisted  his  first  attempt,  and  he 
took  her  home.  On  another  occasion  he  took  her  down  town,  and 
after  giving  her  port  wine  induced  her  to  go  to  a  common  lodging 
house  with  him,  but  this  time  he  selected  a  rear  room,  instead  of 
a  front  room  as  in  the  former  attempt.  After  accomplishing  his 
purpose  he  handed  her  a  suit  case  and  advised  her  to  pack  her 
things  and  meet  him  in  a  day  or  two  appointing  the  time  and 
place,  and  he  would  take  her  where  her  sister  could  not  find  her. 

He  then  invited  his  two  male  friends  before  mentioned  to  meet 
him  at  the  same  place  and  time  telling  them  that  he  had  a  girl 
that  he  was  going  to  put  in  a  house  in  Oakland.  On  seeing  her 
however,  and  recognizing  that  it  was  the  same  girl  to  whom  he 
had  said  he  was  engaged,  and  with  whom  they  had  dined  in  her 
home,  the  two  friends  refused  to  have  anything  more  to  do  with 
the  matter  and  the  girl  frightened  by  their  attitude  returned  to 
her  sister,  and  told  her  the  whole  tale.  Through  my  influence  Al- 
thers  was  arrested,  brought  into  the  police  court,  and  his  case  re- 
ferred to  the  Superior  Court.  By  my  advice  he  pleaded  guilty  and 
had  his  attorney  not  called  one  of  his  friends  before  mentioned, 
to  the  stand  to  testify  what  he  intended  to  do  with  the  girl,  he 
might  have  been  put  on  probation,  but  after  hearing  the  friends 
testimony  the  court  decided  it  had  no  other  course  left  open  to  it 
but  to  sentence  him  to  five  years  in  one  of  the  state  peniten- 
tiaries. 

'  *  The  Fields  Case, ' '  it  appeared  that  a  good-for-nothing  son  of 
respectable  parents,  born  in  America,  and  educated  in  Europe 
had  induced  a  girl  working  in  a  candy  store,  to  become  his  para- 
mour, and  thereafter  had  persuaded  her  to  earn  money  which 
he  did  not  need.  He  called  regularly  for  the  money,  and  on  one 
occasion  when  he  did  not  believe  the  amount  tendered  him  was 
sufficient,  he  beat  her,  and  in  the  course  of  his  beating,  broke  her 
jaw.  He  was  arrested  and  tried  for  vagrancy. 

I  had  objected  on  the  grounds  that  he  should  have  been  charged 
with  felony,  but  one  of  my  attorneys  thought  that  the  girl  could 


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PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  257 

be  induced  to  swear  to  a  felony  charge  if  the  charge  of  vagrancy 
did  not  stick.  He  was  convicted  of  vagrancy,  and  sentenced  to 
six  months  in  the  county  jail. 

His  father  telephoned  me  threatening  me  with  personal  vio- 
lence on  account  of  my  so-called  activity  in  this  case.  I  regret 
to  state  that  some  ' '  shekel  seeking  shyster ' '  managed  to  release 
him  after  only  thirty  days '  incarceration,  and  my  attorneys  and 
myself  have  been  unable,  up  to  date,  to  find  any  record  of  the 
proceedings  whatever. 

"The  Bernstein  case "  was  typical  and  so  far  as  San  Francisco 
is  concerned,  peculiar. 

Bernstein  passed  a  store  in  which  a  girl  of  sixteen  was  em- 
ployed ;  also  her  brother.  He  liked  the  girl  and  used  to  pay  fre- 
quent visits  to  the  store  to  see  her.  He  made  friends  with  the 
brother  and  discovered  that  the  father  was  a  barber  with  a  large 
family,  earning  a  meager  existence,  and  willing  to  rent  a  room  in 
his  home  to  a  single  man  or  two.  Bernstein  and  his  partner  a 
notorious  panderer  engaged  a  room,  the  former  taking  with  him 
a  trunk  in  which  were  waists,  and  skirts,  and  pieces  of  jewelry, 
which  they  exhibited  nightly  to  the  girl  and  her  mother. 

By  a  show  of  liberality,  giving  extra  money  to  the  man  to  pro- 
vide more  luxurious  meals,  he  obtained  the  confidence  of  the 
parents,  and  thus  was  permitted  to  take  the  girl  out  for  a  walk. 
After  obtaining  the  affection  of  the  girl,  he  left  the  father's 
house,  and  located  in  a  rooming  house  to  which  he  invited  the  girl. 
There,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  girl,  he  had  illicit  rela- 
tions with  her,  and  offered  her  a  chain  and  a  locket,  which  she 
however,  refused.  He  then  proposed  to  her  that  she  should  leave 
her  home  and  come  with  him  to  another  town  where  they  could  be 
married.  Before  he  could  carry  his  project  into  effect  he  was  ar- 
rested and  the  girl  placed  in  the  Detention  Home.  She  refused 
to  give  any  testimony,  until  from  behind  a  screen  she  heard  him 
admit  to  the  detectives  that  he  was  a  married  man  with  a  family 
and  could  not  marry  her.  Her  testimony  on  the  stand  was  con- 
clusive, but  because  she  had  consented  to  indulge  in  illicit  rela- 
tionship with  the  man,  a  few  of  the  jurors  voted  to  acquit. 

17 


258  PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO 

Instead  of  bringing  Bernstein  to  a  second  trial,  he  was  given 
permission  to  leave  the  state.  Comment  is  superfluous. 

"The  Pomeranz  Case"  was  a  peculiar  one,  having  character- 
istics which  I  believe  are  most  unusual.  In  this  case  an  uncle 
seduced  his  own  niece  with  the  object  of  placing  her  in  a  house 
of  prostitution.  She  came  from  Europe  and  located  with  her 
father  in  New  Bedford,  Mass.  He  having  no  family  with  him 
at  the  time  consigned  her  to  the  care  of  his  brother  who  lived  in 
Boston. 

The  brother  showing  too  much  attention  to  the  niece,  aroused 
the  jealousy  and  suspicion  of  his  own  wife,  who  objected  to  the 
presence  of  the  girl  in  their  home.  He  sent  her  to  New  York,  and 
joined  her  there,  and  persuaded  her,  that  because  she  was  for- 
eign they  had  better  go  west,  to  avoid  her  being  arrested  on  com- 
plaint of  his  wife.  They  reached  Chicago,  where  according  to 
the  evidence  taken  at  Angel  Island,  he  tried  to  sleep  in  the  same 
bed  with  her,  to  which  she  objected.  He  then  took  tickets  for  San 
Francisco  and  somewhere  on  the  road,  after  twelve  mid-night, 
he  entered  her  berth  and  seduced  her.  Arrived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco he  inquired  the  location  of  houses  of  prostitution,  in  which 
he  evidently  intended  to  place  the  girl.  Two  other  men  became 
interested  in  the  girl,  and  as  I  had  no  faith  in  the  honest  inten- 
tions of  any  of  them,  I  had  the  girl  placed  for  her  own  protec- 
tion, under  the  guardianship  of  the  Federal  authorities  at  Angel 
Island. 

After  a  long  and  drawn  out  examination,  in  which  it  appeared 
that  the  girl  was  an  innocent  victim  of  coercion,  intimidation  and 
chicanery,  I  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  in  Washington : — 

To  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Gentlemen: — In  re  the  case  of  one  Annie  Pomerantz,  now  held  at  Angel  Island 
Station  in  this  State  for  deportation  and  whose  deposition  is  now  being  forwarded 
to  you  by  the  officer  in  charge  of  said  station,  I  beg  leave  to  say: 

First: — T?hat  said  Annie  Pomerantz  is,  in  my  judgment,  the  victim  of  a  plot 
concocted  by  certain  relatives  with  the  intention  of  placing  her  in  a  house  of  prosti- 
tution. This  statement  I  think  is  borne  out  by  copy  of  letter  which  I  will  enclose 
to  you,  together  with  the  originals  written  in  Yiddish. 


PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO  259 

Second: — That  said  Annie  Pomerantz  was  induced  to  leave  Boston  by  her 
uncle,  as  the  result  of  his  conduct  toward  her,  which  caused  the  jealousy  of  his  wife. 

Third: — That  his  plea  to  her  in  New  York  to  leave  that  city  and  go  elsewhere 
with  him  was  merely  another  move  in  the  same  game,  and  impressed  as  a  necessity 
upon  the  girl  on  the  grounds  that  he  was  about  to  desert  his  wife  for  her,  and  that 
the  wife  might  have  the  girl  arrested  if  she  stayed  in  New  York. 

Considering  the  fact,  that  in  the  country  from  which  she  conies,  marriages  be- 
tween uncles  and  nieces  are  permitted,  though  not  encouraged,  it  might  seem  prob- 
able that  he  had  persuaded  the  girl  to  go  with  him  and  that  he  subsequently  would 
get  a  divorce  from  his  wife  and  marry  her. 

Fourth: — 'That  his  action  in  ruining  the  girl  in  a  sleeping  car,  as  testified  by  her, 
was  a  further  move  in  the  same  scheme  to  make  it  harder  for  her  to  say  anything 
against  him. 

Fifth: — That  the  uncle's  request  to  a  friend,  as  told  in  the  girl's  testimony,  to 
show  him  around  the  district  where  houses  of  prostitution  were  maintained,  still 
further  convinces  me  of  his  reprehensible  conduct,  and  his  worse  intentions. 

Sixth: — That  at  the  present  time  I  am  endeavoring  to  cause  the  arrest  of  the 
said  uncle,  Barnat  Pomerantz,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  to  which  place  he  has  re- 
turned, and  to  have  him  prosecuted  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

Seventh: — That  the  girl  is  a  necessary  and  important,  and  in  fact  the  only  wit- 
ness upon  whose  testimony  such  conviction  can  be  obtained. 

Further: — That  the  girl's  father,  Israel  Pomerantz,  resides  in  New  Bedford, 
Massachusetts,  and  her  mother  and  the  rest  of  her  family  are  now  en  route  to  that 
place;  that  she  has  no  relatives  in  her  native  city  that  can  provide  for  or  care  for 
her,  and  I  therefore  recommend,  both  in  the  interest  of  mercy  and  justice,  and  in 
consideration  of  the  fact  that  our  government  is  a  benign  institution  intimately 
interested  in  upholding  the  moral  standards,  that  the  said  Annie  Pomerantz  be 
consigned  to  the  care  of  her  parents,  under  such  guarantees  as  your  Honorable  Body 
may  deem  sufficient,  so  that  she  may  herself  have  the  opportunity  of  leading  an 
honest  life  here  where  there  is  a  probability  of  her  remaining  moral,  and  also  that 
she  may  be  used  as  testimony  to  convict  her  villainous  relative,  who  presumes  to 
perpetrate  his  heinous  offense,  relying  upon  the  fact  that  the  girl  was  more  or  less 
ignorant,  and  that  he  was  immune  so  far  as  his  deportation  was  concerned,  having 
resided  thirteen  years  in  this  country.  With  respect,  I  am, 

Yours  respectfully, 

JACOB  NIETO. 

The  girl  was,  in  accordance  with  my  recommendation,  con- 
signed to  the  care  of  her  father,  who  came  here  to  receive  her. 
I  wrote  to  Rabbi  Fleischer,  of  Boston,  giving  him  the  details  of 
the  case,  and  advising  him  that  my  attorneys  had  communicated 
with  the  district  attorney  of  Boston  in  regard  to  the  case.  I  have 
discovered  that  according  to  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, any  man  who  took  a  woman  from  her  home  for  immoral 


260  PROCURERS  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO 

purposes,  or  to  commit  an  immoral  act  with  her,  was  liable  to  the 
charge  of  felony.  I  received  no  reply  from  Rabbi  Fleischer,  only 
the  following  from  the  superintendent  of  the  Federated  Jewish 
Charities  of  Boston. 

FEDERATED  JEWISH  CHARITIES  OF  BOSTON. 

Rabbi  Jacob  Nieto,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  to  Rabbi  Charles  Fleischer  has  been  handed  to  me  for 
reply.  I  desire  to  say  that  I  have  spoken  with  Mr.  Joseph  Pelletier,  Dist.  Attorney, 
who  tells  me  that  unless  the  girl  is  here  to  prosecute  nothing  can  be  done.  As  she 
is  held  in  San  Francisco,  the  best  way  is  to  pursue  the  matter  with  the  authorities 
at  Washington  which  ought  to  be  done  very  soon. 

Very  truly  yours, 

MAX  MITCHELL,  Supt. 

It  is  my  judgment  that  the  only  cure  for  this  evil  is  to  compel 
the  men  who  travel  with  their  wares  to  become  real  wanderers, 
that  they  may  not  find  a  haven  of  rest  in  any  city  of  the  United 
States,  that  they  be  hounded  as  they  deserve  to  be,  or  hanged, 
as  the  last  enactment  of  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Texas 
would  have  them.  They  are  dehumanized,  they  have  become 
bestial,  and  unfit  to  live  in  a  community  of  human  beings. 

No  legislation,  however  drastic,  can  be  too  severe  to  punish 
these  malefactors. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

FROM  THE  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC. 

Years  ago  there  was  a  musical  play  called  the  Burgomeister 
going  the  rounds  of  our  theatres.  A  very  interesting  story  ran 
through  the  libretto,  and  it  was  quite  like  the  story  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle.  First  there  was  the  old  Dutch  town  in  all  its  simple 
purity.  Then  the  Burgomeister  fell  asleep  and  awakened  many 
years  afterward  to  find  that  instead  of  a  little  town,  New  York 
had  become  a  great  city. 

Had  he  looked  about  him  he  would  have  discovered  that  not 
only  are  there  huge  sky-scraping  buildings  and  underground 
railways,  but  there  are  new  and  perplexing  problems  both  civic 
and  social  to  be  solved  in  this  greater  New  York. 

While  the  Burgomeister  slept  strange  people  had  come  from 
many  lands,  bringing  with  them  customs,  good  and  bad.  Of  the 
bad,  the  worst  was  the  traffic  in  womanhood  brought  to  the  door 
of  our  nation  from  France  by  the  Maquereaux  and  from  Rus- 
sia, Poland  and  Galacia  by  the  Kaftan.  The  trite  parable  of  the 
good  apples  and  the  bad  apples  was  applicable  here.  A  man 
there  was  who,  in  order  to  fill  up  the  barrel,  hid  one  or  two  bad 
apples  in  under  good  ones.  When  the  barrel  was  opened  again 
many  of  the  good  apples  had  become  bad,  either  totally  or  par- 
tially. So  in  New  York  these  foreign  traffickers  in  woman  and 
girls,  like  the  apples,  soon  spoiled  and  corrupted  many  others. 

The  American  spirit  of  commercialism  rife  among  the  new 
comers  to  our  country  as  among  the  older  settlers  rapidly  devel- 
oped the  commercialized  procuring  of  women  and  girls  for  im- 
moral purposes.  The  word  spread  abroad  to  those  either  too 
low  to  care  how  they  made  money,  or  too  lazy  to  make  it  honest- 
ly, that  "easy  coin  could  be  picked  up"  by  the  traffic  in  girls. 
Men  and  women  of  all  nationalities  and  creeds  were  drawn  into 

261 


262  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

the  business  until  from  the  little  beginning  in  New  York  we  have 
a  trade  in  girls  radiating  to  all  the  cities  of  America. 

Thus  today  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  the  abominable 
traffic  in  girls  can  be  found. 

If  there  are  no  girl  procurers  in  New  York,  as  some  have  said, 
why  was  Michael  J.  0 'Conner  sentenced  by  Presiding  Justice 
Wilken  in  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  to  serve  eleven  months 
in  the  penitentiary  and  pay  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars,  on 
November  15,  1910?  Was  it  not  because  he  was  a  trafficker  in 

human  flesh  ?  Did  he  not  procure  and  compel  Marie to  tread 

the  path  of  shame  in  order  to  make  a  few  measley  dollars  for 
himself?  Was  it  not  a  fact  that  when  this  same  Marie  tried  to 
get  out  of  his  clutches  he  kicked  and  beat  her?  These  are  facts 
which  can  be  answered  only  in  the  affirmative. 

Another  instance  was  marked  by  the  conviction  of  Marshall 
Marks  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  1910.  In  this  case  Nicalina 

a  seventeen  year  old  girl,  testified  that  when  she  accepted 

the  attentions  that  Marks  was  paying  her,  in  the  belief  that  he 
would  marry  her,  he  forced  her  into  a  disreputable  life.  Only 
eighteen  months  before  this  happened  Nicalina  had  looked  out 
upon  the  Statute  of  Liberty  as  the  ship  which  brought  the  girl 
from  sunny  Italy  landed  in  the  New  York  harbor.  Did  she  find 
liberty  here?  Well,  let  Marshall  Marks  who  was  sentenced  to 
not  less  than  four,  nor  more  than  six  years  in  prison,  answer. 

One  of  the  important  confessions  made  by  white  slave  pro- 
curers was  that  of  Harry  Levinson  of  New  York  City.  On  May 
Second,  1910,  he  was  indicted  for  pandering  two  girls  to  agents 
of  the  White  Slave  Grand  Jury.  The  next  afternoon  Levinson 
pleaded  guilty  before  Judge  0  'Sullivan  in  General  Sessions,  and 
was  remanded  to  the  Tombs  to  await  sentence.  Before  he 
pleaded,  his  counsel  stated  in  court  that  the  case  against  the 
prisoner  was  so  hopeless  that  he  had  no  recourse  but  to  plead 
guilty.  Then  it  was  that  Levinson  decided  to  tell  all  he  knew 
of  the  white  slave  business. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  May  he  confessed  to  District  Attorney 
Charles  S.  Whitman  that  he  carried  a  new  raincoat  across  his 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  263 

arm  and  posed  as  a  peddler  of  raincoats,  and  thus  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  girls,  and  plied  his  nefarious  trade.  Names  and 
addresses  were  given,  and  for  two  hours  this  self- vaunted  slave 
trader  told  what  he  knew  of  the  traffic  in  girls.  He  said  he  orig- 
inally was  a  raincoat  peddler  and  found  most  of  his  customers 
among  inmates  of  disreputable  houses.  Little  by  little  he  began 
to  adopt  the  white  slave  trade  as  a  side  line,  and  finally  devoted 
himself  to  that  altogether.  Then  he  told  how  he  procured  girls 
and  how  white  slave  agents  were  constantly  at  work  finding  girls 
for  houses  of  ill  fame. 

Some  of  the  agents  Levinson  described  as  men,  but  most  of 
them  were  well  dressed,  handsome  women.  Matinee  and  moving 
picture  shows,  Levinson  asserted,  were  frequented  by  these 
agents.  It  was  their  business  to  engage  attractive  young  girls 
in  conversation,  take  them  out  to  dinner  and  paint  a  dazzling 
picture  of  the  life  of  luxury  they  might  lead.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  induce  women  of  the  street  to  enter  these  houses.  Most 
of  the  women  and  girls  thus  selected  came  from  other  cities  to 
work  here,  and  thus  fell  into  the  snare. 

When  these  women  obtained  the  confidence  of  the  girl  victims 
and  housed  them  in  a  good  hotel  for  a  time,  Levinson  asserted, 
men  who  were  agents  for  the  houses  would  take  them  in  charge, 
and  after  a  few  weeks  try  to  find  them  places  in  houses  of  ill 
fame  in  New  York  or  in  other  cities.  Some  of  the  girls  never  saw 
the  interior  of  a  disreputable  house  until  taken  there  by  the  agent 
who  sold  the  girls  to  the  proprietor.  Usually  the  agents  were 
paid  ten  per  cent  of  the  girl's  weekly  earnings  as  commission 
for  delivering  the  girl,  the  prisoner  stated. 

When  there  came  a  hurry  call  for  girls  the  procurers  found 
it  possible  to  find  as  many  as  ten  or  a  dozen  in  half  an  hour.  The 
negotiations  over  and  the  money  paid,  the  girls,  Levinson  said, 
would  be  taken  to  the  houses  where  they  were  wanted  by  agents 
representing  the  white  slave  traders.  The  agents  who  placed  the 
girls  usually  kept  in  touch  with  them,  and  when  they  were  not 
earning  enough  would  try  to  place  them  in  other  houses.  Levin- 
son  declared  he  never  had  any  connection  with  any  of  the  so- 


264  ATLANTIC  T.O  THE  PACIFIC 

called  white  slaVe  centres.  He  worked  more  with  the  transfer 
of  girls  from  one  house  to  another  house.  Sometimes  the  girls 
knew  what  their  fate  was,  but  more  often  they  did  not. 

Levinson  said  he  met  George  A.  Miller,  the  Government  agent, 
in  a  West  Thirtieth  Street  cafe  known  as  "The  Barrel"  about 
three  weeks  before  his  arrest.  Miller  was  accompanied  by  one 
of  the  women  detectives,  whom  he  introduced  to  Levinson  as 
"Mrs.  Miller."  After  some  preliminaries  Miller  came  to  the 
subject  and  said  "Mrs.  Miller"  wanted  several  girls.  Levinson 
agreed  to  assist  and  took  Miller  to  a  restaurant  in  Third  Avenue, 
near  Fourteenth  Street,  and  afterward  to  a  bakery  in  Second 
Avenue,  where  he  pointed  out  the  two  girls  who  afterward  were 
purchased. 

Miller  made  an  appointment  for  the  next  day  in  the  Hotel 
Albany,  and  Levinson  brought  the  two  girls.  "Mrs.  Miller," 
after  complaining  of  the  scarcity  of  girls  in  the  West,  agreed  to 
the  purchase  of  the  pair,  and  the  money  was  paid.  Miller  had 
four  tickets  for  Atlantic  City,  two  of  which  he  gave  to  the  girls 
with  instructions  to  meet  him  and  "Mrs.  Miller"  in  the  railroad 
station  in  Jersey  City  the  following  morning. 

Ida  one  of  the  girls  kept  the  appointment,  but  Gussie  the  other 
did  not  appear.  Miller  and  the  woman  detective  took  the  girl  to 
Atlantic  City  and  to  a  cottage  in  North  Carolina  Avenue,  and 
from  there  Miller  telegraphed  Levinson,  telling  him  of  the  non- 
appearance  of  the  other  girl,  and  then  accusing  him  of  breaking 
his  contract.  On  receipt  of  this  telegram,  Levinson  said,  he  had 
hunted  up  the  missing  girl,  who,  he  found,  had  missed  the  train. 
He  took  her  to  Atlantic  City  himself,  delivering  her  to  Miller, 
and  then  returned  to  New  York. 

On  June  sixteenth,  1910,  when  Harry  Levinson  was  brought 
before  Judge  0  'Sullivan  for  sentence,  he  asked  leave  of  court  to 
withdraw  his  plea  of  guilty,  and  to  have  new  counsel  appointed 
to  defend  him.  The  Judge  asigned  the  case  to  two  lawyers,  and 
again  on  June  thirtieth  Levinson  appeared  before  Judge  0  'Sulli- 
van and  for  the  second  time  renewed  his  application  for  leave 
to  withdraw  his  plea  of  guilty,  entered  May  third. 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  265 

The  Court  permitted  the  defendant  to  change  his  plea  to  an 
attempt  to  commit  the  crime,  and  sentenced  him  to  State  prison 
for  not  less  than  one  year,  nor  more  than  one  year  and  four 
months  and  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars. 

"Any  sentence  that  I  may  give,"  Judge  0 'Sullivan  said,  "is 
inadequate,  even  for  an  attempt  to  commit  the  crime. ' ' 

The  indictment  in  the  above  case  charged  a  violation  of  sec- 
tion 2460  of  the  Penal  Law,  entitled  "Compulsory  Prostitution 
of  Women. ' '  The  attorneys  who  were  assigned  by  the  Court  to 
investigate  the  case,  argued  at  considerable  length  with  Assist- 
ant District  Attorney  Press  as  to  whether  any  such  crime  as  that 
to  which  Levinson  had  pleaded  guilty  had  been  committed. 

The  situation  turned  on  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  purpose " 
in  the  statute,  whether  merely  the  intent  of  the  defendant  should 
be  considered,  or  the  purpose  of  the  other  party  to  the  transac- 
tion, who,  it  was  admitted,  had  never  intended  to  place  the  girls 
in  a  house  of  prostitution. 

For  the  two  girls  whom  Levinson  introduced  to  George  W. 
Miller  and  Frankie  Fuller,  the  investigators  of  the  District  At- 
torney, Levinson  was  to  have  received  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars  in  consideration  of  his  services,  and  actually  received 
ten  dollars. 

Going  westward  from  the  Atlantic  toward  the  Pacific  the  first 
stop  is  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  No- 
vember, 1910,  where  Jesse  Bluestone  and  Samuel  Mosenson  were 
on  trial  before*  Judge  James  R.  Macf arlane  for  making  a  white 
slave  of  Ethel,  eighteen  years  old.  Bluestone  was  a  former  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature.  Sadie  Golden,  once  proprietress  of  a 
Second  Avenue  resort,  was  indicted  with  them,  but  she  eluded 
the  police,  and  was  reported  to  have  fled  to  Europe. 

The  girl  testified  that  Mosenson  asked  her  to  marry  him,  and 
Bluestone  whom  the  girl  had  known  seven  months  encouraged 
her  to  do  so.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  Mosenson  was  to  take  her 
to  Cleveland  to  marry  her,  but  when  she  arrived  at  the  depot  by 
appointment  to  elope  she  was  met  by  Sadie  Golden  who  told  her 
she  would  take  her  to  Cleveland  and  that  they  would  meet  Mosen- 


266  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

son  there.  They  went  to  Cleveland  and  were  there  f  onr  or  fiv< 
days  when  the  Golden  woman  told  her  she  had  heard  from  M< 
senson,  and  that  he  unexpectedly  had  to  go  to  Chicago  and 
wanted  them  to  come  on  there  for  the  marriage.  Then  on  they 
went  to  Chicago  where  the  girl  was  sold  into  a  house  of  shame 
in  the  red  light  district  on  Dearborn  Street.  While  there  the 
Golden  woman  took  all  her  money  from  the  girl,  and  sent  forty 
dollars  to  Mosenson.  Finally  the  girl  made  her  way  back  to 
Pittsburg  when  the  case  was  reported  to  the  authorities. 

The  girl  wept  pitifully  several  times  during  the  recital  of  her 
story  as  she  testified  on  the  witness  stand.  A  particularly  dis- 
tressing part  of  her  story  was  that  in  which  she  told  of  being 
threatened  with  a  revolver  if  she  tried  to  get  away.  She  cried 
out:  "Oh,  it  is  my  soul  that  talks;  my  soul  talks.  I  have  so 
much  to  tell.  My  soul  is  pouring  it  out." 

She  first  met  Mosenson  at  a  Luna  Park  dance.  She  testified 
that  when  dancing  with  Mosenson,  he  squeezed  her  hand  and 
told  her  he  loved  her.  She  warned  him  if  he  did  it  again  she 
would  quit  dancing  with  him. 

Whe*n  Mosenson  protested  his  love  for  Ethel  and  asked 
marry  her,  she  testified  that  she  asked  him  to  see  her  parenl 
about  it,  and  that  a  date  was  set  for  him  to  call.    However  sh< 
said  he  did  not  visit  her  home.     She  said  Mosenson  promis< 
her  a  watch  anfd  a  ring,  but  never  gave  them  to  her. 

"Mr.  Bluestone  came  and  told  me/'  she  said,  "to  do  whal 
Sam  wanted  me  to  do.  He  said  I  would  be  rich  for  he  saic 
Sam  was  rich." 

Bluestone  in  his  own  defense,  testified,  that  he  had  come 
this  country  about  nineteen  years  before  from  Eussia.  Mosen- 
son testified  that  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age  and  had  beei 
in  America  eight  years. 

On  November  24th  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty, 
the  court  room  heavy  with  pitiful  history,  Ethel  was  perhaps  th< 
most  pitiful  figure  it  had  sheltered.  Nearly  all  the  time  sh< 
was  on  the  verge  of  a  complete  break  down. 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  267 

The  following  is  an  editorial  from  the  Pittsburg  Dispatch  of 
Saturday,  November  26th,  1910. 

"The  conviction  of  Bluestone  and  Mosenson,  charged  with  conspiracy  to  violate 
the  act  against  so-called  'white  slavery'  will  confirm  in  the  public  mind  the  impres- 
sion already  produced  by  the  reports  of  the  testimony.  The  defendants  still  protest 
their  innocence  of  the  charge.  But  with  the  verdict  of  the  jury  expressing  an  opinion 
not  likely  to  be  prejudiced  against  the  defendants,  it  is  fair  to  accept  its  authority. 

"On  that  hypothesis  the  prospect  of  an  effective  example  for  the  offense  will 
be  grateful  to  the  public  sense  of  morality.  The  offense  is  among  the  most 
degraded  in  the  criminal  code.  Women  who  make  merchandise  of  themselves 
can  be  regarded  partly  with  a  sentiment  of  pity.  But  men  who  make  merchan- 
dise of  women  constitute  a  libel  on  the  name  of  man.  They  represent  the  utter 
degradation  which  in  the  twentieth  century  elbows  civilization  and  Christianity 
sometimes  into  the  background. 

"It  is  noticeable  that  one  of  the  defendants  is  an  ex-member  of  the  Legis- 
lature. The  fact  that  a  man  of  such  character  could  be  elected  to  help  make 
laws  for  Pennsylvania  is  a  revelation  of  the  influences  which  sway  our  politics 
and  is  perhaps  explanatory  of  some  of  the  phenomena  of  our  legislation." 

About  the  same  time  further  west  in  the  City  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  Louis  and  Philip  Watchman  were  arrested.  They 
had  been  released  from  the  County  Jail  at  Belleville,  Illinois, 
on  November  15,  1910,  and  were  immediately  rearrested  by  the 
Federal  authorities  for  the  purpose  of  deportation  from  the 
United  States.  They  had  just  completed  a  jail  sentence  of  six 
months,  following  their  conviction  for  carrying  on  white  slave 
traffic  in  East  St.  Louis.  It  was  on  this  charge  that  S.  L.  White- 
field  of  the  United  States  Immigration  office  in  St.  Louis  filed  his 
information. 

The  Watchman  brothers  lived  in  Chicago  and  were  convicted 
of  attempting  to  lure  girls  to  Chicago  from  East  St.  Louis. 
They  said  they  were  born  in  Russia,  but  later  lived  in  England. 

According  to  evidence  brought  out  at  their  trial  last  April, 
they  opened  up  an  office  in  East  St.  Louis,  posing  as  employes  of 
an  employment  agency.  They  hung  around  in  the  saloons  of  the 
tenement  district.  Witnesses  testified  that  they  were  offered  one 
dollar  to  secure  girls  of  ordinary  appearance,  and  two  dollars 
if  the  girls  were  pretty.  They  had  not  fully  laid  their  plans 
when  arrested. 


268  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

They  had  only  found  one  girl  who  was  willing  to  take  a  tri] 
to  Chicago  on  a  free  ticket,  under  a  promise  of  "honest  employ- 
ment." The  girl  had  not  left  East  St.  Louis  when  the  Watch- 
man brothers  were  arrested.  She  testified  that  she  was  to  meel 
a  woman  at  Englewood  station,  near  Chicago,  who  would  take 
her  to  a  place  where  she  would  be  employed. 

The  Watchman  brothers,  in  addition  to  the  six  months  jail 
sentence,  were  fined  five  hundred  dollars.  The  law  of  Illinois 
demands  that  when  a  man  pleads  to  being  a  pauper  he  can  not  b< 
held  on  a  fine.  The  prisoners,  when  their  jail  sentence  expired, 
filed  affidavits  that  they  were  paupers.  They  were  released, 
but  arrested  before  they  left  the  jail. 

A  little  further  to  the  west  is  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  The  write] 
has  visited  that  city  several  times  when  he  lectured  there  upon 
the  subject  of  white  slavery,  and  therefore  he  feels  that  he  has 
had  a  small  part  in  moulding  the  public  opinion  against  a  re- 
turn to  power  of  the  red-light  overlords  who  have  fattened  on 
the  souls  of  innocent  girls. 

Des  Moines  is  one  of  the  very  few  cities  in  the  United  States 
which  has  entirely  wiped  out  the  red-light  district.     The  mai 
who  did  it  was  J.  L.  Hamery,  and  he  will  now  tell  how  he  a< 
complished  the  task : 

SUPPRESSION   OF   VICE   IN   DES    MOINES,   IOWA. 
By  J.  L.  Hamery,  Superintendent  Department  of  Public  Safety. 

Note — In  publishing  the  following  article  of  Mr.  Hamery  th< 
following  extracts   from   a  letter   received  from   Hon.   A.   J. 
Mathis,  Mayor  of  Des  Moines,  will  be  interesting.     Other  most 
reliable  testimony  from  Des  Moines  agrees  with  this  voluntary 
statement  on  the  part  of  Mayor  Mathis. 

"There  is  no  question  but  what  the  so-called  'red  light*  has  been  driven  out 
of  the  city.  There  is  no  such  district  here.  This  plan  of  minimizing  the  socia 
evil  seems  to  be  bringing  much  better  results  than  segregation.  The  credit 
due  the  Department  of  Public  Safety  and  its  superintendent,  Mr.  John  L.  Ham 
ery,  who  took  the  advanced  ground  that  the  red  light  district  was  unnecessary. 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  269 

"I   am    surprised   and   gratified   at    the    results    obtained.      Until    lately   I    had 
ot  believed  the  experiment  would  prove  a  success. 

"Several  years  ago  the  Des  Moines  resort  district  was  broken  up  and  imme- 
iately  there  was  good  evidence  that  places  of  the  same  character  were  being 
,  oldly  operated  in  respectable  resident  districts.  The  segregation  plan  was  re- 
unied.  The  second  experiment  has  brought  different  results,  and  with  respect  to 
he  social  evil,  Des  Moines  is  now  immeasurably  cleaner  than  it  has  ever  been 
efore." 

With  the  abolishment  of  houses  of  prostitution,  commonly 
mown  in  this  as  well  as  many  other  cities  as  the  red  light  dis- 
trict, on  September  15,  1908,  the  city  of  Des  Moines  not  only 
solved  the  great  social  question  of  moral  leprosy  and  degeneracy 
mt  laid  bare  the  very  roots  of  crime  and  its  elements. 

Segregation  is  no  longer  an  issue  of  moment.  Baudy  houses, 
)rothels  and  houses  of  ill  repute  resorted  to  by  moral  degener- 
ites  and  the  criminal  classes,  with  their  immoral  music,  unfor- 
;unate  girls  and  scenes  of  ribaldry  and  debauchery,  are  gone! 

Cheap  lawyers,  bondsmen  and  money  sharks,  all  of  whom 
aung  like  blood-suckers  on  the  segregated  districts,  forcing  the 
i^irls  to  pay  tribute  from  the  price  of  their  shame  and  in  their 
|  agreed  playing  the  part  of  procurers,  placing  almost  daily  on  the 
altar  of  avarice  new  victims  that  the  total  of  their  usury  may  not 
be  diminished,  have  been  forced  to  relinquish  their  prey. 

Crime,  which  at  one  time  was  of  such  violent  nature  and  com- 
mitted with  such  alarming  regularity  that  within  the  past  decade 
many  parents  in  the  rural  districts  have  feared  to  send  their 
children  to  Des  Moines  colleges  and  institutions,  has  been  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  The  decrease  has  been  so  marked  within 
the  past  thirteen  months  that  the  city  passed  through  the  recent 
state  fair  and  the  U.  S.  military  tournament  with  an  average 
daily  attendance  of  30,000  people,  extending  over  a  period  of  two 
weeks  without  a  single  case  of  professional  hold-up,  burglary, 
robbery  or  other  crime  more  serious  than  intoxication  being  re- 
ported to  the  police — a  record  which  I  do  not  believe  can  be  dup- 
licated by  any  city  of  similar  size  in  America. 

Preceding  the  present  administration  the  records  show  that 
the  police  department  was  called  upon  almost  daily  to  investi- 


270  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

gate  a  large  number  of  robberies  of  greater  or  less  degree  of  se- 
riousness. Those  same  records  will  now  show  that  we  often- 
times pass  through  a  period  of  two  weeks  without  a  single  case 
of  even  petty  larceny  being  reported  to  the  department. 

Granting  that  the  efficiency  of  the  police  department  has  been 
increased  (immeasurably)  since  the  abolishment  of  the  districts 
and  the  elimination  of  the  contaminating  influence  of  associa- 
tion with  characters  of  a  lewd  and  disorderly  nature,  yet  even 
this  cannot  wholly  account  for  the  transformation  of  a  city 
formerly  notorious  for  violent  crime  into  one  of  the  most  law- 
abiding  of  communities. 

Police  records  will  show  that  even  under  the  most  stringent 
regulations  and  the  highest  efficiency  which  can  be  obtained  in 
police  work,  crime  can  only  be  partially  suppressed  under  a 
system  which  permits  criminals  to  utilize  houses  of  prostitution 
and  segregated  districts  as  a  "fence"  in  which  to  dispose  of 
stolen  property  and  as  a  place  of  refuge  in  which  to  secrete 
themselves  from  the  police. 

It  has  been  my  experience  that  notwithstanding  the  utmost 
caution,  crime  will  continue  to  exist  wherever  and  whenever 
criminals  are  allowed  to  run  at  large,  aided  and  abetted  by  the 
city  government  in  providing  a  protected  district,  where  they 
may  dispose  of  their  loot  and  furnishing  means  by  which  they 
may  escape  detection. 

The  system  of  segregation  is  as  indefensible  as  it  is  perni- 
cious. Even  under  the  most  perfect  conditions,  in  which  the  po- 
lice have  absolute  control  of  the  hot-beds  of  crime  and  shame 
where  revelry  and  ribaldry  are  confined  to  the  licensed  houses 
and  boisterous  conduct  is  suppressed  on  the  streets,  the  term 
protection  is  a  misnomer  when  applied  to  the  great  mass  of  the 
citizenship  and  the  residence  districts. 

Ordinary  citizens,  who  only  ask  to  be  allowed  to  pursue  their 
lawful  avocations  in  a  peaceful  and  decent  manner,  are  at  a 
decided  disadvantage  with  the  denizens  of  red  light  districts  in 
the  matter  of  police  protection.  Inmates  of  (iniquitous)  broth- 
els and  baudy  houses  for  the  mere  pittance  paid  in  the  form  of 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  271 


fines  to  the  city  government  are  amply  protected  in  their  life  of 
debauchery  and  crime.  This  protection,  however,  does  not  pre- 
vent the  citizen  from  being  preyed  upon  by  the  criminals  that 
infest  these  places. 

Considerations  of  public  morals  by  the  advocates  of  segrega- 
tion always  start  (or  have  until  quite  recently)  with  the  assump- 
tion first,  that  the  physical  expression  of  the  amorous  nature 
of  the  young  man  is  essential  and  necessary  to  his  health  and 
well-being;  second,  that  if  it  were  not  for  public  prostitutes 
decent  women  would  not  be  safe.  The  first  proposition  was 
ably  demolished  in  a  paper  on  "  Chastity "  read  before  this  very 
society.  The  second  proposition  has  been  proved  to  be  utterly 
without  foundation  by  the  experiment  in  Des  Moines. 

The  protection  of  prostitution  was  for  years  urged  by  poli- 
ticians, who  to  serve  their  own  ends  managed  to  keep  the  worst 
features  of  the  nefarious  traffic  under  cover,  while  they  indus- 
triously preached  the  doctrine  of  segregation  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  on  the  grounds  that  if  it  were  not  for  such  places  it 
would  not  be  safe  for  decent  women  to  venture  on  the  streets 
alone ;  also  that  it  was  impossible  to  suppress  the  traffic  and  that 
the  cityi  needed  the  revenue.  Sanctimonious  hypocrites 
preached  this  doctrine  with  such  effect  that  the  really  respect- 
able element  began  to  believe  it  the  only  method  for  the  control 
of  the  evil. 

The  assumption  of  necessity  carries  with  it  the  idea  of  segre- 
gation and  police  control.  Segregation  evolves  the  idea  of  med- 
ical inspection  and  the  theory  that  it  should  be  made  perfectly 
safe  for  debauches  to  violate  the  law  in  this  respect.  Police 
i  experience  proves  that  segregation  does  not  segregate,  but 
rather  serves  as  a  nucleus  from  which  the  rottenness  radiates  in 
every  direction,  penetrating  and  establishing  itself  in  every  por- 
tion of  the  city. 

The  medical  concensus  of  opinion  is  that  inspection  of  pros- 
titutes— even  when  carried  to  the  extreme  of  microscopic  exam- 
ination— fails  to  guarantee  immunity  from  infection.  In  many 
of  the  larger  cities  this  method  has  been  adopted  in  the  segre- 


272  ATIANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

gated  districts,  even  to  the  quarantining  of  the  houses  in  which 
infection  was  discovered,  only  to  be  discarded  later  as  im- 
practicable and  insufficient. 

Des  Moines,  in  line  with  other  cities  of  the  United  States,  had 
adopted  and  followed  for  many  years  the  segregation  policy  of 
handling  and  controlling  public  prostitution.  That  is,  in  the 
main  the  segregation  idea  was  followed  in  the  general  outline, 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  never  was  complete  segregation. 
It  fell  far  short  in  every  detail  of  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
established,  and  investigation  leads  me  to  believe  that  this  is 
equally  true  of  other  cities  that  claim  this  fallacious  idea  for 
their  policy. 

The  records  of  the  police  department  of  the  time  when  seg- 
regation was  supposed  to  be  in  its  perfection  prove  that  the 
business  blocks  as  well  as  the  residence  districts  were  honey- 
combed with  prostitutes  and  with  houses  of  ill-fame.  This  may 
seem  a?  startling  statement,  but  the  police  records  for  the  year 
1897,  a  period  when  both  gambling  and  prostitution  were  li- 
censed by  a  system  of  monthly  fines,  proves  this  beyond  ques- 
tion by  giving  the  addresses  from  which  the  fines  were  paid. 

The  segregated  district  was  supposed  to  be  * '  Whitechaple, ' '  a 
notorious  rendezvous:  below  the  tracks  on  West  Third  and 
Fourth  streets.  The  records  in  our  possession,  however,  prove 
that  a  rwimber  of  these  brothels  were  in  active  operation  under 
the  protection  of  the  police,  not  only  in  the  business  section  of 
East  Des  Moines,  but  on  the  very  edge  of  one  of  the  most  re- 
spectable residence  districts. 

The  fining  system  in  vogue  always  caused  more  or  less 
scandal.  Pettifogers,  bondsmen  and  money  sharks  did  an  im- 
mense business,  aided  and  abetted  by  the  police.  Back  rents 
that  would  have  startled  an  Irish  landlord  were  collected  daily 
from  the  unfortunate  without  influence,  and  no  receipts  given. 
If  a  house  was  noticed  some  evening  to  have  an  unusually  large 
crowd  of  lavish  roisters,  the  shark  would  repeat  his  call  for  rent 
and  swear  he  had  not  been  there  before.  If  the  madam  refused 
to  be  held  up  the  police  were  notified  and  the  house  was 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  273 

"  pulled "  while  filled  with  company.  Another  member  of  the 
combine  would  be  at  police  station  to  sign  the  bonds  for  the 
inmates  and  collect  from  five  to  ten  dollars  each  as  interest  on 
the  "risk"  which  did  not  exist.  Through  these  methods  the 
bond  sharks  and  their  allies  stood  to  win  at  every  stage  of  the 
game. 

In  the  early  days  of  acknowledged  segregation  a  sergeant  of 
police  had  charge  of  the  fining  of  prostitutes.  He  went  out  to 
the  houses,  collected  the  fines  and  returned  to  the  station.  Here 
the  farce  was  gone  through  of  making  out  the  warrants,  fining 
the  names  submitted  and  crediting  the  money  to  the  city  treas- 
ury. No  check  was  kept  to  determine  whether  the  report  of  the 
sergeant  was  correct,  the  matter  being  left  entirely  in  his  own 
hands  and  those  of  his  superiors.  Rumors  were  current  that 
certain  houses  with  political  influences  did  not  pay  fines,  or  very 
spasmodically,  and  that  others  paid  money  which  had  never 
reached  the  city  treasury. 

After  much  scandal  the  system  was  changed.  A  sergeant 
still  had  charge,  but  he  was  now  instructed  to  keep  in  touch  with 
all  the  houses  and  notify  the  madams  to  appear  personally  be- 
fore the  judge  in  police  court,  once  each  month,  and  pay  a  fine 
for  themselves  and  the  girls  in  their  employ. 

This  system,  while  much  better,  was  still  open  to  abuse.  The 
sergeant,  under  the  direction  of  those  higher  up,  was  still  in  a 
position  to  hand  out  great  favors.  It  was  now  alleged  that 
favored  ones  were  allowed  to  operate  where  they  pleased  and  to 
pay  fines  at  intervals.  Great  discrepancies  were  shown  in  the 
amount  of  fines  assessed,  some  of  the  madams  paying  $25  a 
month  for  themselves  and  $10  for  each  of  the  unfortunates  in 
their  charge,  while  others  were  let  off  with  the  payment  of  $15 
for  themselves  and  five  dollars  each  for  the  girls. 

At  Christmas  time,  as  a  tribute  to  the  season  of  good  will, 
through  the  machinations  of  those  in  charge,  the  girls  were 
absolved  entirely  from  paying  fines.  At  this  time,  however, 
rumor  became  busy  with  the  magnificent  presents  received  by 
the  heads  of  the  police  department.  It  is  a  matter  of  record 

18 


274  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

that  complaints  were  made  of  houses  operating  in  the  vicinity 
of  a  public  school,  and  two  within  the  very  shadow  of  the  city 
library;  but  the  complaints  were  of  no  avail,  for  these  places 
were  still  in  operation  when  I  took  charge  of  the  department. 

The  degrading  influence  on  a  police  force  through  intimate 
association  with  prostitutes — even  of  a  supposedly  business 
character — cannot  be  other  than  a  demoralizing  factor  of  fear- 
ful possibilities.  "Fine  day"  at  police  station,  when  the  fin- 
ing system  was  in  vogue,  was  almost  a  fete  day.  All  other  busi- 
ness would  be  suspended.  The  heads  of  the  department  who 
were  interested  in  the  collection  of  fines  would  dye  their  hair, 
curl  their  moustaches,  put  on  their  diamonds  and  prepare  to 
receive  their  guests.  Presently  a  hack  would  draw  up  in  front 
of  the  station,  a  gorgeous  creature  resplendant  in  silks  and  be- 
decked with  jewels  and  paint  would  step  forth,  to  be  greeted  by 
the  chief  of  police  or  his  designated  aide  with  the  cheery  words, 
*  *  Hello,  Jeanette,  how  are  you  I  Come  right  in. ' '  She  would  be 
escorted  first  to  the  private  office  of  the  chief  for  a  little  social 
chat,  after  which  she  would  be  taken  before  the  judge,  pay  over 
the  amount  stipulated  and  take  her  departure  amid  the  pleasant 
smiles  and  witticisms  of  the  assembled  police. 

This  process  would  be  kept  up  all  day  and  occasionally  some 
poor,  feeble,  bedraggled  creature  would  slip  into  the  room  in 
an  apologetic  manner,  alone  and  unnoticed.  The  conversation 
would  now  be  after  this  fashion :  *  *  Chief,  I  have  been  very  sick ; 
could  you  allow  me  a  little  more  time? "  And  the  answer  would 
invariably  be  thundered  out,  "Naw,  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if 
you  were  run  out  of  the  city.  We've  heard  complaints  of  people 
being  robbed  in  your  joint;  you'll  have  to  be  careful  or  I'll  have 
you  thrown  in  as  a  vag  and  you  know  what  that  means. "  She  re- 
plies, "I  have  four  dollars  here,  chief;  will  you  take  that  as  a 
deposit  and  allow  me  to  bring  the  rest  in  a  few  days  if  pos- 
sible?" She  is  gruffly  ordered  to  wait  until  the  chief  confers 
with  his  assistants,  at  which  secret  conference  it  develops  that 
she  is  deeply  indebted  to  the  bond  and  loan  sharks,  who  would 
not  stand  for  her  being  '  *  run  out ' '  now.  So  she  is  allowed  to  de- 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  275 

posit  her  four  dollars  with  the  warning  that  she  had  better 
hurry  up  with  the  balance  or  be  " thrown  in."  The  poor  dis- 
eased wretch,  faded  and  hollow  cheeked,  once  the  queen  of  the 
red  light  district,  who  has  appeared  in  the  same  spot  under  cir- 
cumstances as  favorable  as  those  of  her  today  more  fortunate 
sisters  in  the  illicit  traffic,  drags  herself  wearily  back  to  her  den 
to  sell  and  disseminate  her  fearful  malady,  that  a  bond  shark 
may  be  satisfied  and  the  city  derive  revenue,  until  such  time  as 
the  call  is  turned  into  the  station  that  another  victim  of  the  red 
light  has  ended  her  life  and  "one  more  unfortunate  has  gone  to 
her  death. " 

The  conditions  that  accompany  public  houses  of  prostitution 
are  of  ttimes  appalling.  Des  Monies  is  a  church  and  college  town 
and  thousands  of  young  people  from  the  best  families  of  the 
state  come  to  the  capital  city  to  finish  their  education.  It  was 
a  matter  of  common  knowledge  to  the  police  that  slumming 
parties  composed  of  students  often  visited  the  red  light  dis- 
tricts to  take  in  the  sights.  Children  on  their  way  to  and  from 
school  knew  the  character  of  these  places  and  would  often  be 
caught  loitering  even  within  their  doors. 

At  state  fair  times  and  during  other  attractions  that  brought 
enormous  crowds  to  the  city  saturnalias  were  held  that  would 
have  shamed  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  It  was  estimated  that  one 
of  such  crowds  contained  over  500  men,  and  police  were  sent  for 
to  maintain  order.  Parties  of  secretly  inclined  debauchers 
from  all  parts  of  the  state  would  infest  the  city  at  such  times, 
and  give  their  passions  full  rein,  returning  to  their  home  town 
to  sanctimoniously  groan  over  the  wickedness  of  the  capital 
city. 

All  this  is  changed  and  during  the  last  two  months  Des  Moines 
has  entertained  many  thousands  of  visitors,  yet  not  a  single  case 
of  professional  hold-up,  pocket-picking,  burglary  or  robbery 
was  reported  to  the  police.  Congratulations  were  showered  on 
the  department  by  distinguished  visitors,  army  officials,  the 
commercial  organizations  and  the  press  for  the  perfect  law 
and  order  maintained.  It  is  admitted  that  in  point  of  numbers 


276  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

our  police  force  numbering  about  eighty  persons  all  told  (incluc 
ing  office  help,  matrons,  jailer,  wagonmen,  drivers,  etc.),  is 
totally  inadequate  to  properly  patrol  a  city  of  fifty-four  square 
miles. 

It  is  pleasing  to  say  now,  over  a  year  after  the  order  of  sup- 
pression was  issued,  that  a  great  majority  of  those  who  opposed 
the  new  move  are  either  enthusiastic  converts  to  the  policy  of 
eliminating  public  houses  of  prostitution  or  at  least  are  silent. 
The  present  heads  of  the  police  force  and  a  majority  of  the 
council,  and  especially  the  mayor  (who  was  police  judge  under 
the  old  system)  are  all  delighted  to  admit  that  the  results  in 
every  respect  have  far  exceeded  their  anticipations. 

The  fight  is  not  over  in  Des  Moines.  Enormous  profits, 
amounting  to  many  thousands  of  dollars  a  month,  cannot  be 
summarily  cut  off  without  leaving  many  aching  voids.  Evi- 
dence is  not  wanting  that  the  cheap  lawyers,  bondsmen,  loan 
sharks,  rack-renters,  sports,  low  restaurant  keepers,  jewelry 
peddlers,  boot-leggers  and  other  interests  that  fattened  on  pros- 
titution will  not  give  up  the  fight  without  a  struggle. 

But  the  effect  on  the  rising  generation  of  public  places  of 
prostitution  should  also  have  some  consideration  when  dealing 
with  this  question.  It  is  possible  sometimes,  for  those  of  us 
who  are  called  early,  to  leave  our  children  well  provided  for 
materially.  But  it  is  almost  impossible  under  the  best  of  con- 
ditions to  be  certain  of  the  moral  outlook.  It  therefore  behooves 
all  good  citizens  to  try  and  leave  their  children  a  better  moral 
heritage  and  cleaner  condition  (at  least  publicly)  than  we  in- 
herited. 

Another  city  which  has  abolished  its  vice  districts  is  one  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  Lds  Angeles.  Even  before  Des  Moines 
cleaned  out  its  red  light  areas,  Los  Angeles  was  enjoying  the 
peace  and  quiet  which  follows  the  elimination  of  open  and  com- 
mercialized vice. 

The  writer  has  visited  Los  Angeles  several  times,  both  before 
and  after  houses  of  shame  were  swept  out.  Before  the  hur- 
ricane was  set  in  motion  by  Reverend  Sidney  C.  Kendall,  one 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  277 

of  the  pioneer  fighters  against  white  slavery  in  America,  open 
debauchery  and  vice  were  flaunted  before  the  citizens  and  the 
many  visitors  in  Los  Angeles.  Today  there  is  no  question  that 
it  is  one  of  the  cleanest  cities  morally  in  the  United  States. 

In  the  fall  of  1910,  the  writer  made  a  special  study  of  condi- 
tions there.  Of  course,  the  old  cribs  were  gone,  but  also  the 
open  houses  of  prostitution  were  gone.  Some  dance  halls  vis- 
ited could  be  improved  morally.  However,  viewing  the  situa- 
tion from  all  sides  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  when  Reverend 
Sidney  C.  Kendall  and  Reverend  Wiley  J.  Phillips  joined  hands 
"under  the  midnight  sky  and  vowed  to  God  and  to  each  other 
to  fight  against  that  white  slave  market  until  it  was  anni- 
hilated, "  they  kept  faith  with  God  and  themselves  and  made  a 
clean  job  of  it. 

Turning  to  the  north  on  the  Pacific  coast  it  is  found  that  San 
Francisco  has  a  larger  and  more  difficult  problem  to  solve. 

In  a  letter  dated  April  1,  1911,  written  by  Mr.  P.  H.  Mc- 
Carthy, Mayor  of  San  Francisco,  he  says  in  part: 

"San  Francisco,  one  of  the  greatest  seaport  cities  in  the  world,  is  today  the 
best  regulated  and  cleanest  metropolis  of  its  size  in  the  United  States.  Since 
becoming  Mayor  I  have  been  able  to  suppress  one  tenderloin  district  which  my 
administration  inherited,  and  to  establish  a  plan  of  segregation  and  hygienic  and 
medical  supervision  of  the  so-called  social  evil  which  has  met  with  the  approval 
and  support  of  the  most  respected  and  esteemed  elements  in  this  and  other  ad- 
jacent communities.  Our  percentage  of  crime  is  extraordinarily  low,  and,  inci- 
dentally, our  rate  of  mortality,  showing  health  conditions  here,  is  next  to  the 
lowest  of  any  center  in  the  United  States. 

"Young  women  and  young  men  are  now  and  ever  will  be  perfectly  safe  and 
secure  in  the  City  of  San  Francisco." 

However  optimistic  Mayor  McCarthy  may  be  as  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, the  cold  fact  remains  that  San  Francisco,  as  well  as 
New  York  and  Chicago,  have  been  regarded  as  white  slave 
trading  centers,  and  while  all  these  cities  are  making  noble  ef- 
forts to  better  conditions,  there  is  much  yet  to  be  done. 

To  substantiate  this  belief  the  following  article  from  a  San 
Francisco  paper  is  quoted: 


278  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

"The  San  Francisco  Call,  Tuesday,  November  1,  1910. 

"That  San  Francisco  is  the  center  of  operations  of  a  white  slave  system  traf- 
ficking in  country  and  coast  towns  was  asserted  by  Judge  Dunne  yesterday  in 
sentencing  William  Balmain  and  George  Pearce,  convicted  abductors  of  young 
girls,  to  three  years'  imprisonment  each. 

"Judge  Dunne  said  that  he  was  disappointed  that  the  trials  had  not  revealed 
the  actual  members  of  the  system — the  men  behind  Balmain  and  Pearce — and 
said  that  those  culprits  should  be  caught  and  convicted. 

"  'I  have  no  allusions  about  the  position  of  these  young  men,'  said  Judge 
Dunne.  'They  are  not  the  ones  chiefly  to  blame.  They  are  the  tools  of  a  system. 
I  had  hoped  that  the  men  of  whom  these  defendants  are  the  mere  tools  would 
have  been  brought  into  this  court.  It  is  sad  to  contemplate  that  San  Francisco 
is  the  center  of  the  operations  of  procurers  who  send  young  girls  to  country  and 
coast  towns — a  system  of  which  Balmain  and  Pearce  are  the  tools.  If  the  of- 
ficials of  the  Juvenile  Court  had  been  more  efficient  there  would  be  no  necessity 
to  punish  these  young  men.  If  the  excuse  of  the  probation  officials  is  that  they 
did  not  realize  the  gravity  of  the  situation  when  they  permitted  the  defendants' 
attorney  to  examine  the  two  girls,  then  that  excuse  shows  their  incompetency.' 

"The  motion  for  probation  was  denied,  and  the  defendants  were  sentenced 
to  serve  three  years  in  San  Quentin.  Balmain  and  Pearce  became  acquainted  with 

Henrietta  — •  and  Nellie  at  a  nickel  dance  hall,  and  under  promise  of 

marriage  gained  their  confidence  and  shipped  them  to  Point  Arena  where  they 
were  placed  in  a  disorderly  house." 

Then  in  a  San  Francisco  paper  of  December  Seventh,  1910, 
the  following  startling  article  confronts  the  reader. 

"Unbelievable  in  its  savage  horror  and  heartrending  cruelty,  but  so  stamped 
with  the  impress  of  truth  that  its  hearers  accepted  it  at  face  value,  was  the 
tale  that  was  wrung  yesterday  from  the  lips  of  seven  Chinese  women  captured 
after  they  had  been  lowered  from  the  lofty  sides  of  an  ocean  liner  into  small 
boats  and  rowed  away  in  the  darkness. 

"For  at  least  six  of  the  women  the  story  they  told  at  Angel  Island  to  Assistant 
Immigration  Commissioner  H.  Edsell  will  mean  a  speedy  return  to  the  homes  in 
the  far  east  from  which  they  were  lured  by  an  agent  of  the  ring. 

"For  the  ring  the  story  may  spell  a  full  exposure,  as  from  the  women  was 
secured  information  the  nature  of  which  will  be  kept  secret,  but  upon  which  the 
United  States  government  is  already  taking  action  both  here  and  in  Hongkong. 
That  its  operations  had  been  extensive  has  long  been  suspected,  but  of  the  bru- 
tality of  the  ring's  methods  there  was  no  suspicion  until  the  wretched  victims 
of  its  avarice  bleated  forth  the  tale  of  the  cruel  wrong  that  had  been  done  them. 

"Among  the  15  contraband  Chinese  captured  by  customs  inspectors  seven  are 
women,  and  they  are  all  young  girls.  The  youngest  is  14,  the  oldest  20.  One  of 
them  is  frankly  a  slave  girl,  and  on  that  ground  was  deported  from  here  about 
a  year  ago.  The  others,  the  immigration  officials  say  they  have  good  reason  to 
believe,  are  girls  from  respectable  homes,  where  six  almond  eyed  mothers  are  even 
now  grieving  over  their  disappearanc. 


ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC  279 

"All  but  one  of  the  seven  were  kidnapped  in  Hongkong  more  than  a  month  ago. 
They  were  taken  by  night  aboard  the  ship.  One  of  them  was  unconscious  at  the 
time  from  the  narcotic  that  had  been  administered  by  the  agent  of  the  ring. 
They  were  shut  all  together  in  the  liner's  hold  in  a*  locker  about  14  feet  square. 
In  tliis  room  there  was  no  light,  natural  or  artificial,  little  ventilation  and  no 
conveniences.  They  never  left  this  prison  for  an  instant  from  the  night  they  were 
shut  in  at  Hongkong  until  they  reached  San  Francisco,  when  they  were  given 
male  attire,  and,  after  they  had  donned.it,  were  taken  out  on  deck  and  lowered 
with  ropes  over  the  ship's  side.  They  were  in  that  dungeon  just  one  month. 
They  were  fed  sparingly  on  cold  tea  and  dried  fruit,  but  they  lived  through  it, 
and  as  each  one  landed  here  alive  was  worth  $3,000  to  the  ring,  it  looked  like  a 
fine  piece  of  business. 

"The  seven  women  were  separated  as  soon  as  they  arrived  at  Angel  Island, 
and  their  story  was  heard  one  by  one.  Although  told  separately,  they  all  agreed 
in  every  important  detail. 

'•They  were  all  victims  of  the  same  man.  They  met  him  in  Hongkong,  and 
the  immigration  officials  are  in  possession  of  his  name.  They  were  enticed  on 
board  under  different  pretexts.  One  of  them,  a  girl  of  14,  lived  in  the  country  out- 
side Hongkong.  She  was  in  the  city  spending  the  day,  and  was  accosted  by  the 
agent  of  the  ring,  who  made  himself  very  pleasant  to  the  little  country  girl.  He 
told  her  of  a  great  pageant  that  was  going  to  be  held  on  board  the  big  steamer, 
and  said  that  if  she  wished  to  see  something  very  wonderful  he  could  manage  to 
get  her  on  board.  She  did  wish,  and  the  agent  did  the  rest.  Her  folks  are  still 
wondering  why  she  hasn't  come  home. 

"Four  of  the  girls  were  induced  to  take  the  trip  on  the  strength  of  a  promise 
made  to  each  one  by  the  agent  of  a  wealthy  husband  waiting  in  San  Francisco 
to  lay  his  fortune  at  her  feet.  One  of  them  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  agent's  fairy 
tales.  The  agent,  however,  is  a  versatile  kidnaper,  and  one  day  before  the  ship 
left  Hongkong  the  little  lady  drank  something  that  had  been  drugged,  and  while 
under  the  influence  of  the  narcotic  was  carried  aboard  and  locked  in  the  impro- 
vised dungeon. 

"One  by  one  they  told  their  stories  through  an  interpreter  to  Assistant  Com- 
missioner Edsell.  They  told  him  of  their  sufferings  in  the  foul  cell,  where  the 
heavy  air  became  more  poisonous  every  day.  Once  or  twice  a  day,  at  irregular 
intervals,  the  door  was  opened  and  their  food  passed  in.  This  food  consisted 
chiefly  of  dried  fruit,  and  cold  tea  was  supplied  with  which  to  slake  their  thirst. 
They  saw  nobody,  they  heard  nothing,  and  the  first  time  for  a  month  that  they 
filled  their  lungs  with  clean,  pure  air  was  when  they  were  taken  from,  the  ship. 

"They  left  the  liner  through  one  of  the  side  ports  at  the  after  end.  This  port 
is  high  above  the  water.  Each  woman  was  placed  in  the  bight  of  a  rope  and 
lowered  into  a  boat  that  was  tossing  alongside.  The  exodus  was  made  swiftly, 
and  there  seemed  to  be  plenty  of  help  available.  The  boats  were  rowed  away 
from  the  steamer,  and  then  came  the  shooting  and  capture,  which  for  the  women, 
meant  liberty." 

California  has  passed  a  pandering  law  as  was  told  in  Chap- 


280  ATLANTIC  TO  THE  PACIFIC 

ter  sixteen  by  Eeverend  Jacob  Nieto,  and  with  the  aid  of  this 
law  great  things  may  be  expected  of  the  sturdy  people  who  make 
up  San  Francisco's  population. 

Still  further  to  the  north  on  the  Pacific  is  Seattle,  Washing- 
ton. In  this  city  there  was  a  revolution  waged  against  vice 
and  the  traffic  in  girls  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1910.  There 
was  a  great  uprising  of  the  people  against  some  of  the  pol- 
iticians who  were  said  to  connive  with  the  vice  interests  in 
protecting  the  traffic  in  girls.  The  indignation  reached  such  a 
point  that  prominent  city  authorities  were  removed  from  office, 
and  in  February,  1911,  a  new  set  of  office  holders  were  in- 
stalled upon  the  pledge  to  clean  up  the  city. 

Such  conditions  as  were  outlined  in  the  following  case  caused 
the  revolt  and  the  dawn  of  a  purer,  cleaner  and  better  city. 

Max  Thuna  was  on  February  16,  1910,  convicted  of  living  on 
the  earnings  of  a  woman,  Lottie  -  ,  largely  upon  the  com- 
plete testimony  of  the  local  immigration  officials,  who  captured 
correspondence  written  by  Thuna  detailing  that  he  was  mak- 
ing one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  week  from  the  woman, 
and  that  she  was  the  most  profitable  woman  he  ever  owned. 
Enough  was  gleaned  from  the  letters,  written  in  Yiddish  and 
translated  into  English,  to  indicate  that  Thuna  and  others  with 
whom  he  corresponded  were  engaged  in  an  extensive  and 
lucrative  white  slave  business. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  FOR   WHITE  SLAVERY. 

The    Disreputable    Dance    Hall — Some    Unknown    Statistics— A    Great    Evil— The 
Remedy — Other  Causes — Prominent  Women  in  the  Fight. 

Perhaps  in  the  cities  more  girls  are  lured  to  the  white  slaver 's 
dens  from  the  dance  halls  than  in  any  other  way.  Here  too  often 
panders,  either  men  or  women,  are  mingling  in  the  throng  and 
with  the  assistance  of  drinks  which  are  freely  sold  in  many  of 
these  places  they  easily  lure  victims  to  houses  of  ill  fame. 

Hundreds  of  girls  have  testified  in  court  that  they  went  to 
dance  halls  for  pure  amusement,  after  a  hard  day's  work,  and 
were  induced  to  drink,  and  later  procured  for  immoral  houses. 
In  some  cases  it  has  been  proved  that  the  dance  hall  managers 
were  in  league  with  the  white  slave  traders  and  pointed  out  girls 
marked  for  sale,  and  assisted  in  causing  girls  to  become  easy 
prey  for  the  procurers.  In  one  case  tried  in  Chicago  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  dance  hall  manager  was  part  owner  of  the 
house  of  ill-fame  to  which  a  young  girl  was  taken  from  his  dance 
hall  after  she  had  become  intoxicated.  The  girl  claimed  she  had 
never  drank  before,  and  that  after  the  second  drink  she  became 
unconscious. 

It,  therefore,  is  very  important  that  this  phase  of  the  causes 
for  white  slavery  should  be  investigated  and  made  known. 

The  following  article  published  in  "The  Survey "  a  journal  of 
constructive  philanthropy  by  one  of  Chicago 's  foremost  women 
deals  with  this  subject  in  no  uncertain  way.  We  are  indebted 
to  "The  Survey "  and  Mrs.  Bowen  for  this  article. 

DANCE  HALLS. 

BY  LOUISE  DE  KOVEN  BOWEN  (MRS.  JOSEPH  TILTON  BOWEN). 
Young  girls  all  over  the  world  require  and  want  recreation. 

281 


282  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

It  is  necessary  for  them  when  they  are  of  school  age,  but  doubly 
necessary  after  they  have  left  behind  the  relaxation  of  music, 
constructive  drill  and  physical  exercise  which  the  school  pro- 
vides. The  industrial  life  in  which  the  majority  of  our  young 
girls  are  engaged  offers  but  little  variety.  The  monotony  of 
factory  work  is  not  only  wearisome  to  the  body  but  to  the  mind. 
Pasting  labels,  dipping  candy,  wrapping  soap,  making  eyelets  in 
shoes,  is  deadly  monotonous  and  starves  the  imagination.  Then 
comes  the  inevitable  revolt,  and  consequent  trouble. 

In  olden  times  when  our  people  lived  in  villages,  boating  and 
fishing,  outdoor  games  and  rambles  in  the  summer  time,  skating 
and  coasting  in  winter,  the  church  sociable,  or  the  simple  village 
entertainment,  furnished  the  necessary  recreation  for  young 
people.  Today  we  are  confronted  with  the  problem  of  the  city. 
Thirty-nine  per  cent  of  our  population  is  urban.  ,  The- older  gov- 
ernments of  Europe  have  recognized  this  fact  and  have  made 
great  efforts  to  have  their  cities  conform  to  the  demands  of  their 
rapidly  increasing  population,  but  in  America  our  municipal 
organizations  are  in  their  infancy;  we  are  just  beginning  to 
grapple  with  our  recreation  problem,  and  to  realize  that  provid- 
ing for  pleasure  has  become  a  commercial  undertaking  and  that 
the  bright  lights  and  open  doors  of  our  cheap  pleasure  resorts 
urge  a  constant  invitation  upon  the  boys  and  girls  whose  dreary 
home  environment  drives  them  out  onto  the  streets  for  recrea- 
tion, while  over  against  this  array  of  lurid  and  dangerous 
pleasures,  wholesome  and  well-regulated  amusements  are  negli- 
gible quantities. 

In  all  of  our  large  cities  the  two  agencies  run  for  commercial 
reasons  which  draw  the  largest  number  of  young  people,  are 
the  theater  and  the  dance  hall.  It  is  estimated  that  about  forty 
thousand  children  attend  the  moving  picture  shows  in  Chicago, 
but  the  dance  hall  is  even  more  popular,  and  attracts  about 
eighty-six  thousand  young  people  every  evening.  Young  girls 
go  to  these  halls  because  they  crave  the  excitement  of  the  dance. 
It  is  an  outlet  for  their  emotions,  it  affords  a  forgetfulness  of 
their  fatigue,  and  it  is  the  safety  valve  for  their  surplus  energy. 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  288 

The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  has  received  so  many  com- 
plaints regarding  dance  halls,  from  mothers  whose  children  were 
attending  these  halls  or  from  neighbors  who  knew  about  the  con- 
ditions existing  there,  that  it  determined  to  make  an  investiga- 
tion. All  winter  it  had  from  four  to  six  officers  at  work  on  this 
investigation.  Four  of  these  officers  consist  of  two  married 
women  and  their  husbands.  They  have  gone  to  these  halls  to- 
gether, mingled  with  the  men  and  girls,  sat  in  the  saloons,  danced 
in  the  halls,  talked  with  managers,  employes  and  patrons,  and 
openly  flirted  with  each  other.  Their  observations  have  been 
carefully  noted  on  cards  prepared  for  the  purpose,  designating : 
—whether  the  hall  opens  from  saloon,  rooming-house,  hotel 
or  beer  garden;  condition  of  fire  protection,  cleanliness,  venti- 
lation and  lighting ;  the  location  of  the  bar  in  relation  to  dancing 
floor ;  whether  minors  are  present  unaccompanied  by  parents  or 
guardians ;  the  age  of  boys  and  girls ;  whether  liquor  is  sold,  and 
where ;  whether  there  are  special  bar  permits ;  whether  liquor  is 
sold  to  minors ;  the  conduct  of  the  employes  and  of  the  dancers ; 
whether  there  are  dance  hall  habitues  or  " rounders "  present; 
by  whom  the  dance  is  given ;  the  reputation  of  the  hall ;  whether 
there  are  police  present, — the  numbers  of  their  stars  and  what 
services  they  have  rendered ;  and  the  admission  fee  for  men  and 
women.  These  cards  have  been  filed  daily  at  the  office  of  the  As- 
sociation. 

We  have  three  hundred  and  six  licensed  dance  halls  in  Chi- 
cago, and  about  one  hundred  unlicensed.  Those  that  are  licensed 
are  under  police  supervision,  and  our  State  law  requires  that 
no  minor  unaccompanied  by  a  parent  be  permitted  in  these  halls 
if  liquor  is  sold  in  them,  or  in  any  building  connected  with  them. 

Most  of  the  halls  are  rented  by  pleasure  clubs,  organized  for 
fraternal,  educational  or  charitable  purposes.  These  Clubs  get 
special  bar  permits  for  the  sale  of  liquor,  and  our  city  ordinances 
provide  that  such  permits  may  be  given  to  organizations  who 
furnish  satisfactory  references  as  to  the  respectability  of  the 
gathering  for  which  the  permit  is  sought,  and  that  it  shall  not  be 
issued  "  where  disreputable  people  gather  and  young  boys  and 


284  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

girls  are  lured  to  vice  and  crime."  Also,  that  "a  police  officer 
shall  be  present  at  such  gatherings,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
see  that  none  of  the  city  ordinances  for  the  maintenance  of  good 
order  and  decency  are  violated. ' ' 

Our  officers  have  visited  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  halls 
and  have  attended  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  dances.  At 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  dances  there  were  police  present, 
but  out  of  the  two  hundred  and  two  policemen  found  on  duty, 
only  seventeen  were  attempting  in  any  way  to  enforce  the  law 
except  to  interfere  when  a  fight  was  in  progress.  Each  of  the 
three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  dance  halls  have  been  visited 
from  one  to  seven  times. 

If  one  of  our  newly  arrived  immigrant  mothers  wanted  rec- 
reation and  amusement  for  her  children,  might  she  not  consider 
that  our  licensed  dance  halls — allowed  to  be  open  under  city 
regulations  and  protected  by  the  presence  of  city  police — would 
be  a  safe  place  for  her  children?  The  results  of  this  investiga- 
tion indicate  that  the  majority  of  the  dance  halls  of  Chicago 
do  not  offer  safe  or  wholesome  recreation  for  young  people. 
Many  of  them  are  a  disgrace  to  our  city,  and  too  often  feeders 
for  the  underworld.  In  the  majority  of  these  halls  the  state 
laws  and  the  city  ordinances  are  broken  in  respect  to  the  admis- 
sion of  minors  unaccompanied  by  their  parents^  and  in  one 
hundred  and  forty-six  of  these  places  our  investigators  found 
that  liquor  is  sold  openly  to  them.  In  such  halls,  thje  laws  of 
common  decency  are  violated,  and  they  are  resorted  to  by  evil 
minded  men  and  women  seeking  victims.  The  proprietors  of 
these  places  either  connive  at  or  participate  in  this  use  of  their 
halls,  and  no  effort  whatever  is  made  to  protect  the  young  peo- 
ple. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  know  when  one  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
dance  hall,  as  the  doorways,  alleys  and  dark  passageways  in  the 
vicinity  are  filled  with  young  men  and  girls,  in  couples,  and  out- 
side the  halls  there  are  always  girls  waiting  to  ask  them  who  are 
leaving  for  their  return  checks.  Dances  are  advertised  by  post- 
ers on  telegraph  poles  or  in  saloon  windows,  and  by  "pluggers" 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  285 

— bright  colored  cards,  with  the  dance  announcement  on  one  side 
and  a  popular  song  on  the  other, — which  are  distributed  in  the 
halls  and  carefully  preserved  by  the  boys  and  girls.  In  one  dis- 
trict the  "pluggers"  announcing  the  Sunday  dances  are  given  to 
people  leaving  the  churches. 

The  dances  may  be  divided  into  two  classes:  those  given  by 
the  management  or  proprietors  of  the  halls,  and  those  given  by 
clubs  and  societies.  At  the  former  the  dangers  are  more  subtle. 
The  halls  are  cleaner,  and  better  order  is  preserved ;  drinks  are 
higher  priced,  but  more  intoxicating;  the  patrons  are  better 
dressed,  and  there  is  an  assumption  of  decency ;  but  these  halls 
serve  as  a  rendezvous  for  immoral  men  and  women,  and  crowds 
of  young  men  attend  with  the  sole  idea  of  meeting  girls  for  im- 
moral purposes.  While  many  of  the  Club  dances  are  well  con- 
ducted, the  majority  of  them  are  more  openly  dangerous  and 
nearly  all  are  marked  by  extreme  disorder  and  open  indecency. 
The  men  outnumber  the  women  at  all  dances. 

Out  of  the  eighty-six  thousand  people  found  by  our  investiga- 
tors in  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  dances,  in  the  majority  of 
the  halls  the  boys  were  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  eighteen, 
and  the  girls  between  fourteen  and  sixteen — the  very  age  at 
which  pleasure  is  most  eagerly  demanded  as  one  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  youth. 

One  condition  is  general.  Most  of  the  dance  halls  exist  for 
the  sale  of  liquor,  not  for  the  purpose  of  dancing,  which  is  of 
only  secondary  importance.  One  hundred  and  ninety  halls  had 
a  saloon  opening  into  them,  and  liquor  was  sold  in  two  hundred 
and  forty  out  of  the  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  halls.  In 
the  others — except  in  rare  instances — return  checks  were 
given  to  facilitate  the  use  of  the  neighboring  saloons.  At  the 
halls  where  liquor  was  sold  practically  all  of  the  boys  showed 
signs  of  intoxication  by  one  o'clock,  possibly  because  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  get  a  drink  of  water  in  these  halls. 

The  waiters  and  employes  in  the  majority  of  the  dance  halls 
are  only  too  ready  to  give  information  regarding  the  proximity 
of  disreputable  lodging  houses,  which  in  seventy-seven  cases  are 


286  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  halls,  and  in  many  cases 
the  use  of  the  dance  hall  premises  themselves  for  immoral  pur- 
poses is  connived  at  by  the  management.  In  these  halls  new 
comers  are  treated  with  great  attention;  old  men  are  polite  to 
young  girls.  Their  first  effort  is  to  get  the  girl  intoxicated.  In 
one  case  our  investigator  saw  a  young  girl  held  while  four  boys 
poured  whiskey  from  a  flask  down  her  throat,  she  protesting 
half  laughingly  all  the  time  that  she  had  never  had  anything  to 
drink  before.  A  half  hour  later,  her  resistance  gone,  she  was 
sitting  on  a  boy's  lap.  Older  women — often  prostitutes — treat 
young  country  boys  in  the  same  manner.  In  one  hall,  a  young 
boy,  evidently  new  to  the  city,  was  seen  looking  for  a  partner. 
He  was  taken  in  hand  by  a  prostitute  who,  after  drinking  with 
him  all  the  evening,  persuaded  him  to  give  up  his  job  the  follow- 
ing day  and  go  with  her  to  St.  Louis  to  act  as  cadet  for  a  dis- 
orderly house. 

In  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  of  the  halls  immoral  danc- 
ing and  open  embracing  was  indulged  in.  At  one  hall  it  was 
found  that  a  cash  prize  of  one  hundred  dollars  had  been  offered 
to  the  girl  who  at  the  end  of  the  month  had  the  largest  number 
of  drinks  placed  to  her  credit. 

The  greatest  dangers  are  to  be  found  in  connection  -frith  mas- 
querade and  fancy  dress  balls,  where  the  costumes  often  permit 
the  most  indecent  dressing  and  where  prizes  are  awarded  for 
the  best  costumes.  These  prizes  consist  of  cheap  jewelry,  per- 
fume, cigars,  and  liquor,  donated  by  the  neighboring  tradesmen. 
A  barrel  of  beer  is  usually  awarded  to  the  best  group  of  men, 
and  a  dozen  bottles  of  wine  to  the  best  group  of  girls.  A  quart 
of  whiskey  is  the  usual  prize  for  the  best  single  character. 

The  dances  are  short — four  to  five  minutes ;  the  intermissions 
are  long — fifteen  to  twenty  minutes ;  thus  giving  ample  oppor- 
tunity for  drinking.  In  the  halls  where  liquor  is  not  sold  the 
intermissions  are  short  and  the  dances  long.  Is  not  this  an  ar- 
gument for  divorcing  the  sale  of  liquor  from  the  dance  hall  1 

In  these  same  halls  obscene  language  is  permitted,  and  even 
the  girls  among  the  habitues  carry  on  indecent  conversation,  us- 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  267 

ing  much  profanity,  while  the  less  sophisticated  girls  stand 
around  listening,  scandalized  but  fascinated.  There  is  an  al- 
most universal  custom  among  the  girls  of  keeping  their  powder 
puff  in  the  top  of  their  stockings,  from  which  it  is  ostentatiously 
taken  and  used  whenever  a  girl  wishes  to  attract  the  attention 
of  a  young  man. 

Many  of  the  halls  are  poorly  lighted — one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-two belong  to  this  class.  There  is  very  little  protection  in 
case  of  fire — ninety-seven  halls  are  deficient  in  this  respect,  and 
the  over-crowding  renders  unsafe  even  those  which  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  the  Building  Department. 

In  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  halls  the  toilet  rooms  for  men 
are  reached  only  by  going  through  the  bar,  and  there  is  an  un- 
written code  that  the  man  who  avails  himself  of  this  privilege 
must  spend  money  for  a  drink.  In  two  hundred  and  thirty-three 
halls  the  floors  were  covered  with  expectoration  and  littered 
with  cards  and  handbills. 

There  is  but  little  ventilation — one  hundred  and  seventy  halls 
being  deficient  in  this  way.  In  some  cases  the  windows  were 
boarded  up,  apparently  on  the  theory  that  the  hotter  it  was  the 
more  thirst  would  be  superinduced  and  the  more  liquor  would 
be  sold.  Even  in  the  halls  where  the  windows  were  open,  the 
odor  of  the  overheated  people  mingled  with  the  tobacco  smoke 
and  the  fumes  from  the  spilled  liquor  on  floor,  tables  and  chairs, 
made  the  air  unbearable.  The  dust  arising  from  the  floor, 
caused  by  the  moving  feet  and  swirling  skirts  of  the  dancers,  is 
so  thick  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  breathe.  Girls  frequent- 
ly faint,  and  are  carried  out  or  laid  upon  the  floor,  their  clothing 
torn  open,  and  cold  water  thrown  upon  their  chests.  Our  in- 
vestigators found  that  girls  were  sometimes  subjected  to  the 
most  indecent  liberties  without  interference  either  from  the  po- 
lice or  patrons  in  the  hall.  In  one  case  where  the  girl  screamed, 
the  man  choked  her,  and  although  her  screams  rang  through 
the  hall,  those  surrounding  the  couple  only  laughed  and  made  no 
attempt  at  interference. 

The  case  of  a  decent  young  girl  who  recently  went  to  the  Dear- 


288  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

born  Hall  is  typical.  At  the  end  of  the  evening,  finding  herself 
worn  out  from  dancing  and  her  head  heavy  from  the  liquor  to 
which  she  was  unaccustomed,  she  said  to  her  partner,  "Let  us 
go  somewhere  and  rest.'"  Fortunately  the  young  man  was  a  de- 
cent fellow,  and  took  her  home  to  her  mother,  who,  frightened 
by  the  danger  which  the  girl  had  so  miraculously  escaped,  came 
next  day  to  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  to  complain  of 
the  hall,  which  she  had  assumed  to  be  respectable.  Does  not  this 
investigation  make  clear  that  the  city  is  plainly  not  doing  its 
duty?  A  hall  should  not  be  licensed  until  evidence  is  produced 
that  it  is  to  be  used  for  legitimate  purposes,  and  the  license 
should  be  revoked  as  soon  as  it  is  proved  that  the  state  laws 
or  city  ordinances  have  been  violated.  In  one  case  where  the 
hall  was  particularly  bad,  the  Protective  Association  sent  the 
report  to  the  Chief  of  Police,  who  asked  the  Mayor  to  revoke 
the  license.  This  the  Mayor  did  not  do. 

Our  city  ordinances  require  that  no  organization  or  individual 
shall  be  granted  a  special  bar  permit  more  than  six  times  dur- 
ing the  year,  and  yet  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  has 
evidence  showing  that  associations  frequently  secure  from 
twelve  to  twenty-two  bar  permits  in  one  year. 

I  want  to  make  it  quite  clear  that,  of  course,  there  are  halls 
where  decent  dances  are  conducted  by  the  management  and  that 
there  are  many  clubs  and  societies  who  rent  halls  and  give  per- 
fectly respectable  dances,  but  I  again  assert  that  in  halls  where 
liquor  is  sold  that  at  any  moment  the  conditions  may  become  as 
bad  as  those  which  our  investigators  found  in  the  worst  halls 
which  have  been  described. 

I  have  always  advocated  a  Department  of  Recreation,  just  as 
we  have  a  Department  of  Health,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to 
supervise  and  to  regulate  existing  places  of  amusement. 

Kansas  City  recently  has  established  a  department  of  Public 
Welfare,  and  part  of  the  business  of  this  department  is  to 
supervise  the  dance  halls  of  the  city  and  see  that  they  comply 
with  the  regulations  established  for  their  conduct.  Cleveland 
recently  has  passed  a  revised  dance  hall  ordinance  which,  if 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  289 

properly  enforced,  will  eliminate  from  the  dance  halls  all  ob- 
jectionable features  and  provide  decent  amusement  for  its 
patrons.  A  Department  of  Recreation  is  now  being  planned 
in  Milwaukee.  We  should  have  some  such  department  in 
Chicago.  A  city  ordinance  should  be  enacted  covering  the  fol- 
lowing points: 

1st.  A  license  should  be  required  for  premises  used  for 
dance  halls,  not  for  the  man  who  operates  the  hall.  This  would 
make  it  impossible  to  have  a  license  taken  out  by  another  mem-- 
ber  of  the  family  after  it  had  been  once  revoked. 

2nd.  All  dance  halls  should  be  made  to  comply  with  the  reg- 
ulations of  the  Building  and  Fire  Departments  so  as  to  insure 
proper  sanitation  and  adequate  fire  protection.  By  this  means 
many  small  and  poorly  built  halls  would  be  forced  out  of  busi- 
ness because  they  could  not  pass  inspection. 

3rd.  The  sale  of  liquors  in  dance  halls  or  in  buildings  con- 
nected with  them  should  be  prohibited.  This  has  been  accom- 
plished already  in  New  York. 

4th.  The  giving  of  return  checks  to  dancers  should  be  pro- 
hibited so  that  the  saloons  in  the  neighborhood  may  not  be  so 
constantly  utilized. 

5th.  The  connection  of  dance  halls  with  rooming  houses  or 
hotels  should  be  prohibited. 

6th.  All  halls  should  be  brilliantly  lighted,  and  all  stairways 
and  other  passages  and  all  rooms  connected  with  dance  halls 
should  be  kept  open  and  well  lighted. 

7th.  No  immoral  dancing  or  familiarity  should  be  tolerated. 

8th.  People  under  the  influence  of  liquor  or  known  prostitutes 
should  not  be  permitted  in  dance  halls. 

9th.  A  policeman  provided  by  the  city  should  be  on  duty  at 
every  dance,  and  should  remain  at  his  post  from  the  time  the 
hall  is  opened  until  it  is  closed.  He  should  be  instructed  to  en- 
force the  above  regulations. 

10th.  A  license  should  be  forfeited  upon  presentation  of  re- 
liable evidence  that  the  rules  and  regulations  covering  the  dance 
halls  have  been  violated. 

19 


290  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

llth.  There  should  be  an  inspector  of  dance  halls  who  should 
have  in  his  department  a  corps  of  assistants  who  would  regularly 
inspect  the  dance  halls  and  make  reports  concerning  them  to  him 
weekly.  These  inspectors  should  be  paid  from  the  revenue  ac- 
cruing from  licenses. 

In  the  above  regulations  it  will  be  noticed  that  no  mention  has 
been  made  of  the  hour  for  closing  the  dance  halls.  In  Cleveland 
they  are  required  to  close  at  12 :30,  in  Kansas  City  at  12,  except 
by  special  permission;  but  it  is  difficult  to  limit  the  hours  of 
pleasure  for  those  who  can  only  get  it  in  this  way.  Neither 
does  it  seem  best  to  bar  the  girl  of  sixteen  from  attendance  at 
dances  unaccompanied  by  parent  or  guardian,  because  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  require  a  girl  who  supports  herself  and  who 
goes  to  work  unaccompanied  to  submit  to  tutelage  for  her  even- 
ing's pleasure. 

If  we  can  secure  in  Chicago  the  passage  of  a  city  ordinance 
which  shall  regulate  the  dance  halls  along  the  lines  above  sug- 
gested, then  they  will  cease  to  be  places  where  decent  young 
people  are  too  often  decoyed  into  evil  and  where  their  search 
for  pleasure  may  so  easily  lead  into  disgrace,  disease  and 
crime. 

In  this  remarkable  article  Mrs.  Bo  wen  shows  how  the  dance 
hall  may  easily  be  used  by  panders  as  a  stepping  stone  down  to 
the  house  of  vice. 

Many  other  causes  economic  might  be  elaborated  upon  and 
mainly  the  one  which  causes  girls  under  pressure  of  low  wages 
and  love  of  little  luxuries  to  supplement  their  meager  earnings 
in  shops,  offices  or  factories  with  the  price  of  sin. 

Some  of  these  yield  to  temptation  because  of  sheer  want  and 
necessity,  others  starving  for  a  little  pleasure,  still  others  yield 
for  a  square  meal  in  a  restaurant  with  dazzling  lights  and 
merry  music,  yet  again  some  yield  for  an  adorning  trinket  or  a 
willow  plume  and  the  chance  to  wear  it  at  a  "swell"  play. 

Having  once  yielded,  they  go  on  and  on  down  the  crimson 
path  which  leads  to  the  house  of  shame.  First  they  become  oc- 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  291 

casional  wrong-doers  in  the  great  class  of  clandestine  prosti- 
tutes, earning  extra  money  at  the  noon  hour  or  after  work  in 
the  evening.  Soon  the  cheap  hotels  and  places  or  public  as- 
signation become  familiar  to  them.  Then  perhaps  they  spend 
one  or  two  nights  each  week  in  some  resort  to  earn  the  differ- 
ence between  "shabby  insufficiency, "  or  absolute  want,  and 
pretty  clothes  and  other  things  necessary. 

Dean  Walter  T.  Sumner,  head  of  the  Chicago  Vice  Commis- 
sion, is  authority  for  the  statement  made  to  him  by  a  depart- 
ment manager  in  one  of  the  large  dry  good  stores,  that  of  ten 
girls  under  him,  seven  to  his  definite  knowledge  spent  either  two 
or  three  nights  each  week  in  houses  in  the  "Red  Light "  dis- 
tricts. 

Marie  -  — ,  who  testified  against  Harry  Lair,  in  Chicago, 
was  lured  away  in  Paris  from  a  Pension  where  she  worked  from 
five  in  the  morning  till  seven  at  night,  in  general  house-work. 
She  was  fifteen  when  she  was  working  in  this  way.  Her  wages 
would  amount  to  about  five  dollars  a  month,  in  our  money. 
She  said  that  the  work  wore  her  out;  and  it  was  because  the 
work  was  so  hard  and  she  had  no  pleasures  and  no  money  or 
time  for  them,  that  she  went  away  with  the  people  who  after- 
ward proved  to  be  international  white  slave  traders.  Lair  was 
convicted  in  United  States  Court  in  Chicago  and  sentenced  to 
two  years  in  the  penitentiary  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  and  to  pay 
a  fine  of  $2,500.00. 

In  the  first  report  of  the  New  York  Probation  Association, 
the  statement  is  made  that  out  of  three  hundred  girls  com- 
mitted by  the  courts  during  the  year  to  the  charge  of  Waverley 
Houses,  seventy-two  had  been  engaged  in  factory  work.  Of 
these,  many  had  been  at  one  time  or  other  employed  as  opera- 
tives. On  questioning  the  probation  worker,  Miss  Stella 
Miner,  who  had  lived  with  them  and  knew  their  stories  most 
fully,  it  was  learned,  however,  that  almost  every  one  of  these 
girls  had  gone  astray  while  they  were  little  children,  had  been 
remanded  by  courts  to  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  where 
they  had  learned  machine  operating,  and  on  going  out  of  its 


292  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

protection  to  factories  had  drifted  back  again  to  their  old  ways 
of  life.  How  far  this  early  habit  and  experience  had  dragged 
these  young  girls  in  its  under-tow  cannot,  of  course,  be  known. 
Factory  work  when  it  is  seasonal,  must  increase  temptation 
by  economic  pressure. 

An  instance  of  this  was  shown  by  a  factory-worker  on  men's 
vests,  who  told  a  Consumer's  League  Inquirer  that  a  younger 
girl  in  the  same  factory  had  been  in  such  want  in  the  dull  sea- 
son of  the  Garment  Trades,  that  she  had  at  last  become  the  mis- 
tress of  a  man  who  supported  her  until  the  time  of  the  birth  of 
their  child,  when  he  left  her  resourceless. 

Knowing  these  facts  the  following  article  by  the  able  Secre- 
tary to  the  General  Superintendent  of  Police  in  Chicago  will 
bring  them  home  more  vividly. 

By  Kate  Jane  Adams 

I  remember  when  I  was  a  little  girl,  living  in  a  hotel  with  my 
parents,  of  hearing  the  servants  discuss  in  whispers  the  fate 
of  a  girl  in  the  hotel, — a  guest, — who  must  leave  the  house  at 
once ;  she  was  ill,  and  not  able  to  be  moved  but  she  must  be  got- 
ten out  immediately  because  she  was  a  "bad"  girl.  I  did  not 
understand  what  this  meant,  and  as  it  seemed  to  be  something 
too  dreadful  to  talk  about  I  asked  no  questions  but  my  childish 
heart  went  out  in  sympathy  to  this  girl  who,  even  though  ill, 
must  be  cast  out  and  gotten  rid  of  at  any  cost.  They  took  her 
to  a  little  forlorn  hospital  way  up  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
and  I  remember  the  intense  desire  I  had  to  go  to  her  and  do 
something  for  her,  but  I  did  not  have  the  courage  to  even  speak 
of  the  wish  to  my  mother. 

Many  years  after  this,  while  taking  a  course  at  the  Episcopal 
Deaconess  House  in  Philadelphia,  my  heart  still  ached  for  the 
"bad"  girls,  and  I  remember  trips  made  on  dark  nights  after 
the  day's  duties  were  over  to  visit  The  Door  of  Hope,  a  home 
maintained  for  these  girls  by  the  humane  people  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  Beading  Boom  on  Woods  Street,  in  the  center 
of  a  square  given  over  to  vice,  where  the  girls  were  encouraged 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  293 

to  run  in  and  have  a  cup  of  tea,  and  chat  with  the  kindly  woman 
in  charge.  During  my  senior  year,  I  spent  an  evening  each  week 
with  the  girls  who  were  kept  under  lock  and  key  at  the  Midnight 
Mission,  a  few  squares  from  our  school,  and  on  hot  summer 
evenings  I  would  get  the  Matron's  permission  to  take  them,  one 
at  a  time,  over  to  sit  on  the  little  roof  garden  we  had  at  the  Dea- 
coness House,  where  they  loved  the  wisteria  vine  with  its  pur- 
ple clusters  of  flowers  that  wound  and  twisted  itself  through  the 
low  iron  fence  which  surrounded  our  little  garden. 

Later  on  I  came  to  Chicago,  and  after  some  time  became  secre- 
tary to  the  general  superintendent  of  police,  Le  Roy  T.  Stew- 
ard. 

It  was  not  a  new  thing  to  me,  therefore,  when  Colonel  Steward 
said,  after  he  had  been  in  office  several  months,  that  they  had 
been  arresting  all  the  girls  found  soliciting  on  the  streets,  &c., 
but  that  was  not  what  we  wanted  to  do,  that  if  possible  some- 
thing should  be  done  for  the  girls  and  that  there  was  no  use 
trying  to  handle  them  with  tongs;  I  gathered  from  this  that 
close,  personal  work  was  the  thing,  and  I  decided  that  I  would 
at  least  study  conditions  at  close  range. 

Accompanied  by  Deaconesses  Manley  and  Cutler  I  made  my 
first  visit  to  the  South  Side  vice  district,  some  fourteen  months 
ago,  on  a  never-to-be-forgotten  afternoon.  We  found  our  way 
through  a  blinding  snowstorm  from  one  chamber  of  horror  to 
another.  It  was  before  Colonel  Steward's  regulations  regard- 
ing dress  had  gone  into  effect,  and  the  scenes  were  horrible  be- 
yond description;  perhaps  the  purity  and  whiteness  of  the 
freshly  fallen  snow  outside  enhanched  the  vileness  of  the  scenes 
within,  but  the  experience  is  burned  into  my  memory. 

Six  months  after  this  a  group  of  ladies  had  a  Settlement 
House  on  Armour  Avenue,  patterned  after  the  Reading  Room 
on  Wood  Street  in  Philadelphia, — furnished,  and  a  woman  in 
residence  to  do  all  that  could  be  done. 

Shortly  after  my  first  visit  to  the  District  I  was  visiting  the 
Florence  Crittenton  Anchorage  and  there  had  pointed  out  to 
me  a  young  woman  who  had  left  the  district,  and  found  the 


294  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

address  of  the  Deaconess  whose  card  had  been  left  with  her. 
I  formed  this  girPs  acquaintance  and  we  become  good  friends. 
Last  fall  returning  from  my  vacation  I  again  began  visiting  in 
the  district,  I  succeeded  in  taking  from  one  of  the  houses  a  young 
girl  who  wanted  to  leave  the  life  after  having  been  in  it  but  a 
few  weeks ;  she  had  been  directed  to  a  boarding  house  on  Michi- 
gan Ave.  and  knowing  of  no  better  place  to  take  her,  she  re- 
mained there  for  a  short  time.  In  a  few  days  she  was  taken 
ill  and  the  forlornness  of  her  condition  and  situation  so  im- 
pressed me,  one  night  when  I  visited  her,  that  I  wrapped  her  up, 
packed  up  her  belongings,  and  struggling  under  the  weight  of 
the  suitcases,  we  started  for  my  home.  That  was  the  beginning 
—in  a  few  weeks  I  had  four  girls  in  my  small  apartment  and 
saw  that  I  must  either  give  up  my  visits  to  the  district  or  get 
into  larger  quarters.  I  explained  the  situation  to  a  generous 
friend  who  helped  me,  and  I  am  now  in  a  house  with  accommo- 
dations for  ten  girls. 

The  girls  have  come  and  gone, — each  life  a  story;  six,  I  be- 
lieve, have  been  sent  to  their  homes.  Positions  have  been  se- 
cured for  them,  and  shortly  after  seven  o'clock  each  morning, 
there  is  an  exodus  from  the  house  for  the  business  district. 
Words  cannot  express  by  indebtedness  to  the  business  men  who 
have  helped  me  place  these  girls,  to  the  women  physicians  who 
have  stood  by  me  so  nobly,  and  to  the  friends  who  have  given 
me  clothing,  money  for  medicine,  employment  bureau  fees,  and 
occasional  recreation.  The  girls  themselves  requested  a  Christ- 
mas tree  and  we  had  a  pretty  one  to  which  they  invited  the 
poor  children  whom  we  knew.  We  celebrated  Washington's 
birthday  appropriately  in  our  table  decorations  for  dinner,  and 
we  had  a  Valentine  breakfast  on  the  14th  of  February.  Fam- 
ily prayers  are  said  each  night  after  dinner,  and  very  frequently 
a  spelling  class  follows  this,  for  the  benefit  of  the  young  girls, 
we  also  have  reading  lessons,  and  almost  always  there  is  some 
one  studying  shorthand  under  my  direction. 

The  problems  which  confront  one  in  the  work  are  puzzling  in 
the  extreme,  but  the  compensations  are  many;  to  see  a  wild 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  295 

untrained  nature  gradually  becoming  subdued,  to  see  little  evi- 
dences of  affection  for  each  other  creeping  into  the  daily  life, 
and  to  have  a  sweet  young  girl  say,  "Oh!  it  seems  so  nice  to 
have  someone  kiss  me  good  night  again,  repays  one  for  all  the 
anxieties  and  trials. 

A  dear  little  girl,  (the  victim  of  a  $4  salary),  was  caught  in 
her  first  attempt  at  shoplifting  in  one  of  the  department  stores, 
the  superintendent  phoned  me  that  on  account  of  her  youth  he 
did  not  wish  to  prosecute,  and  asked  if  I  would  take  charge  of 
her.  Her  story  was  a  pitiful  one.  Having  lost  father  and 
mother  she  started  out  to  earn  her  own  living.  She  first  went 
into  one  of  the  wholesale  millinery  houses  at  $4.00  per  week 
and  later  was  paid  the  same  salary  in  a  department  store  for 
inspecting  bundles.  Failing  in  an  attempt  to  pay  room-rent, 
board,  carfare  and  lunches  and  clothe  herself  on  $4.00  a  week, 
she  finally  fell  into  arrears  with  her  room  rent,  and  an  exacting 
landlady  held  most  of  her  clothes  for  security;  she  finally 
yielded  to  the  offers  always  held  out  for  a  girl  in  her  position 
to  increase  her  income,  but  did  not  become*  entirely  abandoned 
and  at  times  struggled  to  get  into  the  right  path  again;  she 
finally  resorted  to  taking  clothing  from  the  stores  in  order  to 
clothe  herself.  The  dilapidated  little  suit  case  she  brought  to 
my  house  was  empty  save  for  the  piece  of  a  dress  which  had  once 
belonged  to  her  mother  and  which  she  cherishes  as  her  dearest 
possession.  With  assistance  she  has  been  able  to  secure  a 
$7.00  position  and  feels  as  she  expressed  it  in  our  first  interview 
when  she  said  between  her  sobs  "Oh,  I  don't  want  to  go  to  the 
bad." 

(A  wax  doll  which  she  had  always  kept  is  among  the  things 
held  by  the  boarding  house  keeper). 

To  have  one's  heart  always  full  of  love  is  the  necessary  thing, 
not  human,  but  divine  patience  is  required :  "  To  know  that  man 
is  greater  than  his  acts — to  believe  in  him  in  spite  of  his  wrong 
doing — this  is  to  love  God  whom  we  have  not  seen." 

The  industrial  conditions  which  force  so  many  of  these  girls 
into  the  life  of  the  underworld  are  so  well  known  that  it  seems 


296  SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES 

to  me  there  is  nothing  left  to  be  said,  yet  what  is  being  done  to 
remedy  the  matter?  The  situation  is  well  depicted  in  "The 
Girls  on  the  Firing  Line, ' '  by  Newcomb  in  Human  Life  for  Feb- 
ruary, 1911,  which  gives  an  account  of  the  work  done  by  Miss 
Maud  Miner  at  the  Waverly  House,  New  York  City.  Among 
other  things  he  says,  "But  think  of  the  thousands  of  girls — some 
perhaps  from  your  town — who  face  starvation  and  vice — the 
Twin  Demons  of  the  city — on  $5  a  week.  In  the  city,  where 
commerce  is  the  only  god,  men  play  with  the  souls  of  girls  with 
the  calmness  of  checker  players  in  a  country  grocery.  Profit 
is  their  fetish.  Human  souls  and  bodies — what  are  they  com- 
pared with  dollars?  A  girl — a  thousand  girls — what  difference 
does  the  loss  of  them  make?" 

0.  Henry's  "The  Unfinished  Story"  recently  published  in 
McClure's  has  become  a  classic.  It  portrays  a  department 
store  girl,  whose  salary  is  $6.00  per  week  undergoing  tempta- 
tion in  the  form  of  an  invitation  to  dinner,  knowing  why  it  was 
given  and  what  it  means;  hungry  and  lonely  in  her  poor  little 
room,  she  resists  this  first  temptation. 

We  have  boarding  homes  in  the  city  for  the  girls  on  low  sal- 
aries but  there  are  not  enough  of  them.  We  should  have  them 
near  the  loop  district,  that  the  expense  of  carfare,  and  in  some 
cases  lunches,  might  be  saved.  But  would  it  not  cost  as  much  to 
build  these  boarding  homes  for  the  benefit  of  underpaid  girls 
as  it  would  to  pay  them  living  wages.  Must  philanthropic  peo- 
ple give  money  that  the  dividends  of  the  employes  may  be 
maintained  and  increased.  Isn't  each  individual  worth  what  it 
requires  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  and  to  clothe  her? 

TWO   VERDICTS. 

She  was  a  woman  worn  and  thin, 
Whom  the  world  condemned  for  a  single   Sin, 
They   cast  her  out  on   the  King's   highway, 
And  passed  her  by  as  they  went  to  pray. 


SOME  ECONOMIC  CAUSES  297 

He  was  a  man  and  more  to  blame, 

But  the  world  spared  him  a  breath  of  shame, 

Beneath  his  feet  he  saw  her  lie, 

But  raised  his  head  as  he  passed  her  by. 

They  were  the  people  who  went  to  pray, 
At  the  temple  of  God  on   the  holy  day; 
They   scorned   the  woman,   forgave   the   man, 
It  was  ever  thus  since  the  world  began. 

Time  passed  on  and  the   woman  died, 
On  the  cross  of  shame  she  was  crucified; 
But  the  world  was  stern  and  would  not  yield 
And  they  buried  her  in  the  potter's  field. 

The   man   died  too,  and  they  buried  him, 
In  a  casket  of  cloth  with  a  silver  rim, 
And  said  as  they   turned   from   the  grave  away, 
"We   have  buried  an   honest   man   today." 


Two  mortals  knocking  at  Heaven's   gate, 
Stood   face    to    face    to    enquire    their    fate; 
He    carried  a    passport    with    earthly    signs, 
But    she    a    pardon    from    Love   Divine. 

O   ye    who   judge   twixt   virtue   and    vice, 
Which    think    you    entered    paradise? 
Not   he   whom   the   world   had    said    would   win, 
For  the  woman  alone  was  ushered  in. 


SHE'S  SOMEBODY'S  GIRL. 

'No    matter    how    wayward    her    footsteps    have    been, 
No  matter  how  deeply  she  has  sunken  in  sin; 
No   matter   what   elements   may  canker  the    Pearl, 
Though    lost   and    forsaken    she    is   somebody's    girl." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST  ALTOGETHER? 

By  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A.,  Superintendent  of  the  Midnight  Mission, 

Chicago,  111. 

"Oh,  they  are  bad  because  they  want  to  be  bad,'"  says  Mrs. 
Wisdom, ' '  they  are  too  lazy  to  work,  it  is  of  no  use  to  try  to  save 
them.'7  That  does  seem  true  of  many  who  are  hardened  and 
heartless.  Either  they  are  too  strong  in  their  wickedness,  or 
church  people  are  too  weak  in  their  goodness;  at  any  rate  the 
evil  is  not  overcome  by  the  good.  Mr.  Wisdom  declares  that 
there  always  were  abandoned  women  and  always  will  be.  '  *  They 
are  rotten  wood, ' '  he  says  roughly,  * '  fit  only  for  the  fire. ' '  He  is 
not  so  hopeless  about  sinning  men — only  about  sinful  women. 
He  contributes  a  hundred  dollars  a  year  to  the  Washingtonian 
institution  for  reclaiming  drunkards,  and  has  seen  many  of  them 
cured  of  their  inebriety. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hope  are  glad  of  the  interest  the  Wisdoms  take 
in  lost  men,  but  they  feel  differently  than  the  Wisdoms  about 
lost  girls.  The  Hopes  have  known  some  redeemed  girls,  though 
they  do  not  publish  their  names  and  addresses  lest  reproach  and 
discouragement  might  be  brought  upon  them.  They  know  re- 
deemed men  who  constantly  tell  about  their  vices  and  their  re- 
demption, but  the  natural  modesty  of  women  forbids  them  to  ex- 
pose 

"The  very  wounds  that  shame  would  hide." 

If  women  restored  to  virtue  could  tell  as  loudly  about  it  as  con- 
verted drunkards  can  tell  their  glad  story>  the  grounds  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hope's  confidence  would  be  well  known. 

298 


ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST?  299 

Then  society  is  more  patient  with  the  sins  of  men,  and  redemp- 
tive workers  are  more  patient  in  seeking  to  restore  men  who 
have  fallen.  Colonel  Clarke,  of  the  Pacific  Garden  Mission  in 
Chicago,  helped  a  drunkard  out  of  his  degradation  more  than 
thirty  times  before  he  stood  fast  in  the  new  life.  Colonel  Clarke 
would  have  gone  on  helping  him  and  forgiving  him  till  seventy 
times  and  seven — with  love  and  patience  like  God's.  But  who  is 
patient  to  such  an  extent  with  lost  girls?  Whatever  our  own 
faults  be,  whether  vices  or  evil  tempers  or  falsehoods  or  unbelief, 
we  desire  and  need  God-like  forbearance  and  long  suffering,  and 
we  should  exercise  the  same  graces  towards  all  who  have  fallen 
in  other  ways  than  ours,  and  not  imagine  that  we  can 

"Compound  for  those  we  have  a  mind  to 
By  damning  those  we're  not  inclined  to." 

Tens  of  thousands  of  women  who  have  erred  have  been  re- 
stored to  wholesome  living  and  in  most  cases  nobody  has 
been  any  the  wiser.  Investigations  in  Denmark,  where  until  re- 
cently a  system  of  registration  has  been  maintained,  shows  that 
65  per  cent  of  public  women  are  restored  to  society  by  the  good 
influence  inherent  in  the  Danish  people.  We  do  not  know  what 
the  proportion  is  in  other  countries,  but  it  is  probably  not  less 
wherever  society  is  permeated  with  Christian  teaching  and 
Christian  spirit. 

The  hopefulness  of  Christianity  towards  erring  women  and 
the  Churchs'  confidence  of  her  power  to  confront  and  deal  with 
the  world's  impurity  is  well  shown  in  the  following  address  of 
Bishop  John  H.  Vincent  before  the  Illinois  Vigilance  Associa- 
tion, in  the  auditorium  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion at  Chicago,  February  13,  1911. 

BISHOP  JOHN  H.  VINCENT'S  ADDRESS. 

There  is  a  trumpet  call  in  the  very  title  of  your  Association. 
It  recognizes  a  great  State,  a  great  and  serious  social  peril  and  it 
sounds  a  note  of  awakening  and  alarm.  It  represents  a  move- 


300  ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST? 

ment  every  where  needed.  It  leaves  out  all  ecclesiastical  and 
partisan  political  emphasis  and  it  aims  at  ends  every  way 
worthy.  The  crushing  out  of  a  fearful,  personal,  social  and 
national  evil ;  a  severe  rebuke  at  a  coarse  selfishness  that  thrives 
on  the  ruin  of  easily  beguiled  victims.  It  aims  to  execute  just 
laws  now  on  the  statute  books.  It  demands  the  punishment 
of  unprincipled  and  heartless  panderers  to  vice.  It  seeks  to 
protect  and  rescue  the  victims  of  base  greed.  It  allows  no  dis- 
cussion designed  to  divert  attention  from  its  high  aim  and  no 
shifting  of  responsibility.  It  aims  to  destroy  apathy  and  in- 
difference and  to  extend  knowledge  among  all  classes  of  loyal 
citizens,  and  they  may  deliberate  intelligently  concerning  the 
evils  they  seek  to  correct. 

The  Association  appeals  to  every  sane,  honest  and  right- 
minded  citizen  to  co-operate  in  the  assault  it  makes  that  the  vic- 
tims of  a  great  system  of  iniquity  may  be  saved  and  its  infam- 
ous and  foul  promoters  and  defenders  may  be  punished. 

And  what  may  we  do?  1.  We  may  respond  to  the  appeal  of 
the  Association  for  funds. 

2.  We  may  read  with  care,  even  if  it  be  with  horror,  the  re- 
ports which  the  Association  makes. 

3.  We  may  treat  with  pity  and  tenderness  and  with  protect- 
ing strength  the  victims  of  the  great  evil  which  we  seek  to  de- 
stroy. 

4.  We  may  remember  the  Great  Master — the  Christ  whose 
tender  sympathy  came  to  the  wretched  victims  of  sin  like  balm 
and  the  fragrance  of  flowers — as  He  said,  "Neither  do  I  con- 
demn thee.     Go  and  sin  no  more."    And  to  some  of  us  these 
very  words  may  have  come  at  some  period  of  our  lives  like  balm 
and  benediction. 

5.  We  may  safeguard  our  own  children  by  early  and  wise  in- 
struction concerning  the  delicate  problems  of  sex.     Mother  can 
say  to  her  children  what  no  one  else  can  say.    And  it  is  better  to 
learn  these  sex-secrets  from  mother's  and  father's  lips  than 
from  indiscreet  or  already  corrupted  companions. 


ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST?  301 

6.  We  may  cultivate  in  all  of  our  children  what  we  are  too 
likely  to  neglect — the  value  of  the  WILL  and  its  early  training. 

7.  We  may  by  a  wiser  home  administration  train  children  to 
the  habit  of  prompt  obedience  to  law  and  the  subjection  of  the 
animal  within  to  the  leadings  of  the  spiritual  and  divine.    The 
indulgence  of  children  is  one  cause  of  weak  will  and  the  power  of 
appetite  and  passion  over  principle  and  the  voice  of  conscience. 

8.  We  may  make  our  religious  teaching  more  emphatic — lay- 
ing the  foundation  not  on  dogma  alone  nor  yet  alone  on  ethics. 
Neglecting  neither  we  may  connect  the  two  in  a  holy  unity — so 
that  what  we  know  to  be  true  we  may  learn  to  obey. 

9.  We  must  be  careful  however,  not  to  depend  on  ethics,  but 
to  lay  a  solid  foundation  of  a  rational  theology :  GOD — His  char- 
acter, His  absolute  purity,  and  also  to  emphasize  the  mercy, 
the  pity,  the  tenderness  of  God.     And  we  have  not  outgrown — 
even  if  we  have  not  solved  the  problem  of  the  Cross  on  Calvary 
and  its  relation  to  all  that  preceded  it  in  the  wonderful  ritualism 
of  Judaism.     I  do  not  understand  the  doctrine  of  the  Atone- 
ment.   But  I  do  not  reject  that  or  anything  else  taught  by  spec- 
ialists who  know,  having  as  my  only  reason  the  fact  that  I,  with 
superficial    examination,    do    not    readily    comprehend.     The 
Christ  knew.     The  old  Jewish  leaders  and  priests  understood 
that  there  was  some  significance  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  Taber- 
nacle.    It  was  all  a  kindergarten  of  Theology.     On  these  ques- 
tions I  never  dogmatize.    I  still  "preach  Christ  and  Him  cruci- 
fied "  and  leave  the  philosophy  of  it  to  the  centuries  of  celestial 
leisure  and  opportunity  I  hope  to  enjoy.    In  the  meantime  I 
point  suffering  sinners  to  the  sacrifice  of  Calvary  and  tell  them 
that   Jesus    died   for    sinners.     I  find   great   mystery  in   it. 
But  I  also  find  mercy  and  hope  in  it  all.    I  let  the  mystery  go. 
But  I  rest  in  the  great  reality  back  of  it. 

I  do  not  try  to  chew  the  tin  cup  that  hangs  by  the  chain  at  the 
fountain,  but  I  can  drink  the  water  that  it  receives  from  the 
flowing  stream.  I  don't  attempt  an  analysis  of  the  water  or 
even  think  of  the  elements  that  compose  it,  but  I  drink  the  water 
and  am  refreshed.  And  I  don't  ridicule  the  scientific  teacher 


302  ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST? 

who  tries  to  explain  about  oxygen  and  hydrogen  and  their  mu- 
tual relation  in  the  cup  of  cold  water  that  slakes  my  thirst  on  an 
August  day. 

So  the  teachings  of  the  church  concerning  Jesus  Christ  do 
give  comfort  even  to  plain  folks  who  know  little  or  nothing  about 
science  or  dogmatic  theology. 

It  is  this  simple  and  practical  work  we  are  trying  to  do  for 
souls  living  in  sin  and  whom  we  are  trying  to  tell  the  story 
of  what  the  Christ  has  done  for  us  as  sinners,  and  to  them  we 
come  with  the  simple  gospel. 

I  have  just  re-read  Maurice  Maeterlinck's  "Mary  Magda- 
lene ".  It  is  a  vivid  picture  of  the  days  when  the  Christ  lived 
in  Palestine  and  taught  in  Jerusalem.  The  Magdelene's  trib- 
ute to  the  Christ  is  a  charming  bit  of  work.  One 's  heart  grows 
warm  in  the  reading  of  it.  Bead  the  testimony  of  the  Magda- 
lene to  the  ministry  and  influence  of  Jesus  as  she  spoke  to  her 
Roman  friend  Verus : 

' l  For  months  and  years  you  have  lived  in  His  light ;  and  not 
one  of  you  has  the  least  idea  of  what  I  saw  because  I  loved  Him, 
I  who  did  not  come  until  the  eleventh  hour;  I  whom  He  drew 
from  lower  than  the  lowest  slave  of  the  lowest  of  you  all.  .  . 
He  is  not  only  innocent  as  you  well  know,  He  is  so  pure,  He 
stands  so  high  that  the  thoughts  of  men  cannot  reach  Him. 

.  .  .A  single  glance  from  his  eye,  a  single  word  from  His 
mouth,  are  worth  all  the  lives  of  all  other  men." 

"FOR  GOD'S  SAKE,  SAVE  ME." 

The  illustration  on  the  cover  of  this  book,  which  is  used  also 
inside  the  volume,  is  a  true  drawing  of  the  most  dramatic  oc- 
currence in  our  midnight  work  in  Chicago.  As  the  missionaries 
of  The  Midnight-Mission  were  singing  the  gospel  in  front  of  a 
pestilent  den  near  Twentieth  street,  there  was  a  commotion  in 
the  place,  the  lights  were  suddenly  extinguished,  the  door  flew 
open  and  a  half -clad  woman  rushed  into  the  arms  of  Deaconess 
Manley,  crying  "For  God's  sake,  save  me!"  This  occurred  on 


ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST?  308 

a  Saturday  night  in  the  middle  of  January,  1910,  five  minutes 
before  midnight,  in  a  snow  storm.  The  half -clad  fugitive  was 
promptly  wrapped  in  an  overcoat  and  taken  to  our  prayer  room. 
There,  surrounded  by  the  deaconesses  she  fell  upon  her  knees 
and  began  to  pray.  The  depths  of  her  soul  were  so  upheaved 
that  I  recognized  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  an  immortal  spirit. 
Seizing  a  piece  of  paper,  I  took  a  pencil  from  my  pocket  and 
wrote  down  the  exact  words  of  her  prayer  while  she  was  of- 
fering it.  She  said :  *  *  Oh  God !  look  down  and  forgive  me  my 
sin.  .  .  And  may  many  others  follow  me.  .  .  .  May  those 
poor  unfortunates  walk  out  as  I  did,  and  not  be  afraid.  Oh 
God!  may  they  not  be  afraid  to  walk  out  in  short  dresses,  as  I 
did ;  and  may  they  be  saved,  as  I  am. ' '  She  asked  if  she  might 
say  a  Catholic  prayer,  and  began.  "In  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Amen."  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Lord's  prayer. 

She  begged  to  be  taken  to  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 
to  be  kept  for  a  year  to  overcome  the  liquor  and  drug  habit. 
We  called  up  Miss  Mossett,  who  has  a  refuge  opposite  St. 
Mary's  Eoman  Catholic  church,  on  Wabash  Avenue.  Miss  Mos- 
sett gladly  consented  to  receive  her,  and  to  her  our  deacon- 
esses took  her  about  2  o  'clock  Sunday  morning. 

Like  nearly  every  one  else  who  seeks  deliverance  from  any 
evil  habit,  this  woman  was  not  saved  all  at  once,  but  slipped 
back  into  the  sewers.  The  midsummer  following  her  startling 
midnight  plunge  into  the  snow  storm,  she  came  again  into  the 
street  as  we  were  holding  a  gospel  meeting  near  midnight,  and 
again  sought  Miss  Manley's  help — which  had  been  lovingly  and 
and  untiringly  given  on  all  occasions.  The  poor  creature  has 
not  again  gone  back  to  the  burning  brimstone  of  the  vice  dis- 
trict, but  she  is  still  struggling  with  the  drink  habit. 

Mr.  0.  H.  Richards,  founder  and  superintendent  of  Beulah 
Home,  for  betrayed  and  fallen  girls,  in  Chicago,  told  me  of  one 
betrayed  girl  who  so  completely  regained  her  Christian  char- 
acter that  she  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  China.  Another  be- 
came a  minister's  wife. 


304  ARE  LOST  GIRLS  LOST? 

The  late  Charles  N.  Crittenton,  a  month  before  his  deal 
spoke  in  our  street  meeting  and  mentioned    with  enthusiasi 
Nellie  Conroy,  a  notorious  woman  of  New  York  City,  who  b< 
came  as  eminent  for  goodness  and  usefulness  as  she  had 
conspicuous  in  wantonness. 

Mrs.  E.  M.  Whittemore  has  told  with  voice  and  pen  the  wonder- 
ful story  of  Delia,  whom  she  found  in  a  low  sub-cellar  in  Mul- 
berry street,  New  York  City,  abandoned,  depraved,  with  a  gang 
of  thieves.  Delia,  to  whom  Mrs.  Wliittemore  presented  a  beau- 
tiful pink  rose,  there  in  the  night  in  the  sub-cellar  thought  upon 
the  flower  and  upon  its  falling  petals  as  the  symbol  of  her  trans- 
itory life  and  of  its  speedy  end — and  the  afterward.  She  re- 
pented thoroughly,  was  gloriously  transformed  and  became  a 
great  spiritual  power  in  slums  and  prisons  until  the  time  of  her 
death. 

From  the  time  that  Jesus  cast  seven  demons  out  of  a  suffer- 
ing woman  until  now,  countless  thousands  of  afflicted  and  sin- 
ning men  and  women  have  been  changed  from  shame  to  glory. 
Begbie's  " Twice-Born  Men"  is  the  literary  form  of  what  every 
missionary  sees  in  every  city  where  the  gospel  is  preached  in 
power. 

"Jesus  the  prisoner's  fetters  breaks, 

And  bruises  Satan's  head. 
Power  into  strerigthless  souls  He  speaks. 
And  life  into  the  dead." 


THE  ENEMY  OF  MAN  AND  THE  ENEMY  OF  WOMAN. 
The  man  on  the  left  is  Mike  Hart,  the  white  slave  trader.     He  was 
at   one   time  a  bar-tender   in   "The   Paris."     His   testimony   appears   in 
Chapter  VII. 


A  GROUP  OF  ARDENT  WHITE  SLAVE  FIGHTERS. 


B.  S.  STEADWELL. 

President  International  American  Purity  Federation  and  editor 
of  its  official  organ  "The  Light."  He  is  one  of  the  great  leaders  in  the 
fight  against  white  slavery  and  for  purity  in  the  home. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SEGREGATION  VERSUS  ELIMINATION. 

By  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A.,  Superintendent  of  the  Midnight  Mission, 

Chicago,  111. 

The  Theory  of  Segregation — Defended  by  people  of  high  character — What 
it  really  is — A  district  where  White  Slave  Traders  may  operate  their 
immoral  houses  without  fear  of  the  law — Elimination  of  Vice  the  only 
remedy. 

The  theory  of  segregation  is  well  known  and  is  commonly  sup- 
ported by  an  argument  like  this:  "Fallen  women  have  always 
been  in  the  world  and  always  will  be.  It  is  better  to  have  them 
in  one  place  under  police  regulation  than  to  have  them  scattered 
all  over  town  without  restraint. "  The  defender  of  segregation 
is  also  likely  to  advance  the  arguments  that  vice  is  a  necessary 
evil  and  that  bad  women  are  necessary  for  the  safety  of  good 
women.  He  is  also  apt  to  advocate  medical  supervision  in  order 
to  prevent  or  diminish  disease. 

Among  the  advocates  of  segregation  are  men  and  women  of 
high  character  and  stainless  motive.  Yet  they  do  not  seem  to 
realize  that  all  antagonists  of  vice,  who  wrestle  with  it  in  the 
abyss,  have  heard  the  same  arguments  from  keepers  of  brothels 
and  traders  in  girls,  from  politicians  and  policemen  who  protect 
the  immoral  houses  for  boys  and  girls — have  heard  the  same 
arguments  more  forcefully  and  more  eloquently  stated  than  the 
minister  or  the  professor  can  state  them,  and  have  heard  them  as 
the  whole  argumentative  capital  of  vice,  until  the  real  antago- 
nists of  the  evil,  who  know  it  as  no  absentee  theorist  ever  can,  are 
sick  over  the  ever  recurring  argument  in  identical  terms  from 
minister  and  prostitute,  from  policeman  and  procurer,  from  bus- 
iness men  and  traffickers  in  girls.  Lawyers  and  prosecutors 

20  305 


306  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

sometimes  join  their  logic  and  eloquence  with  the  clamor  of  the 
white  slave  traders  for  a  district,  where  they  may  operate  their 
houses  of  shame  without  fear  of  the  law  which  prohibits  their 
crimes. 

TOLERATION  OF  VICE  FALSE  TO  TEUTONIC  IDEALS. 

That  some  lawyers  of  reputation  are  willing  thus  to  make 
void  the  law  is  almost  as  startling  as  that  an  occasional  preacher 
is  heard  proclaiming  the  plea  of  the  bawd.  With  rare  and  tem- 
porary exceptions,  the  Teutonic  nations  have  always  prohibited, 
by  statute  or  by  the  common  law,  the  keeping  of  houses  of  pros- 
titution. From  the  days  of  Tacitus  the  Germanic  nations  have 
been  noted  for  their  uncompromising  attitude  with  reference  to 
chastity  and  sins  against  chastity.  Any  person  seeking  profit 
from  another's  moral  weakness  and  shame  has  been  regarded  as 
of  an  essentially  criminal  disposition — to  be  corrected  by  chas- 
tisement, not  encouraged  by  leniency. 

Toleration  of  vice,  and  especially  of  traders  in  vice,  is  false  to 
our  Teutonic  conscience,  ideals,  history  and  heritage.  Germany, 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  the  three  mighty  Teutonic 
nations,  have  come  to  surpassing  and  enduring  greatness 
through  a  history  of  uncompromising  antagonism  to  vice.  Let 
us  not  now  be  betrayed  to  a  Latin  or  Asiatic  laxity  of  morals, 
lest  we  go  the  way  of  the  great  Latin  and  Asiatic  nations  that 
have  fallen. 

THE  RED  MILL  AND  WHAT  IT  GRINDS. 

In  the  center  of  Chicago's  principal  vice  district  is  a  resort 
that  for  years  had  a  sign  Le  Moulin  Rouge,  which  is  French  for 
The  Eed  Mill.  Paris  has  or  had  a  resort  of  that  name.  All 
such  resorts  in  Paris,  Chicago  and  elsewhere  are  Red  Mills- 
red  with  the  heart's  blood  of  mothers,  red  with  the  blood  of 
murdered  babies.  If  people  only  knew  what  grist  such  Red 
Mills  grind  they  would  not  tolerate  the  murderous  dens. 


SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION  307 

THE  RED  MILLS  GRIND  OUT  BABIES'  EYES. 

This  is  a  terrible  statement,  but  every  physician  worthy  of 
the  name  knows  that  at  least  one-fourth  of  blindness  is  caused 
by  the  diseases  that  are  inseparable  from  an  immoral  life  and 
always  inevitably  on  sale  in  a  house  of  infamy.  The  disease 
of  which  young  men  have  no  fear,  and  at  which  they  laugh  as 
no  worse  than  a  cold,  is  the  chief  cause  of  inflammation  of  the 
eyes  of  newborn  babies — ophthalmia  neonatorum.  It  is  due  to 
the  germs  of  the  shameful  disease  with  which  the  husband  in- 
fects his  wife,  and  with  which  she  innocently  infects  her  child 
as  it  is  born  into  the  world.  The  husband  generally  supposes 
himself  cured  before  marriage  and  is  often  ignorant  of  the 
cause  of  his  baby's  blindness.  These  terrible  germs  may  be 
carried  for  years  or  even  for  a  life-time.  The  only  way  to  be 
sure  that  a  man  does  not  have  them  is  to  be  sure  that  he  never 
contracted  them. 

The  lying  quacks  who  sign  doctors '  certificates  that  immoral 
women  are  free  from  disease  are  partners  with  the  murderous 
White  Slave  Traders,  and  are  a  disgrace  to  the  medical  pro- 
fession. These  certificates  are  mere  bait  to  catch  suckers,  and 
young  men  who  bite  at  such  bait  prove  their  own  brainlessness. 

In  his  drama  of  Wilhelm  Tell  the  poet  Schiller  makes  the 
patriot  say  that  to  live  without  sight  is  a  calamity  worse  than 
death.  What  shall  be  said  of  the  murderous  trade  that  has 
blinded  millions  in  their  earliest  infancy!  Every  man  and 
woman  ought  to  cry  out  against  this  crime  from  which  fiends 
might  shrink. 

The  ruin  of  sinning  men  is  grievous  but  deserved.  The 
havoc  that  the  sins  of  young  men  work  among  their  future 
wives  and  children  is  a  veritable  slaughter  of  the  innocents. 
The  terrible  consequences  to  innocent  wives  and  children,  re- 
sulting from  young  men  sowing  wild  oats,  led  Miss  Helen  Kel- 
ler, the  brilliant  blind  graduate  of  Eadcliffe  College — whose 
blindness  followed  scarlet  fever  in  her  childhood — to  write  a 


308  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

full-page  article  in  the  Ladies '  Home  Journal  for  January 
1909,  under  the  heading  "I  must  speak. "  She  said: 

"The  most  common  cause  of  blindness  is  ophthalmia  of  the 
new-born.  One  pupil  in  every  three  at  the  Institution  for  the 
Blind  in  New  York  City  was  blinded  in  infancy  by  the  disease." 

She  proceeded  to  explain,  on  the  highest  medical  authority, 
that  these  children  are  blind  because  their  fathers  sowed  wild 
oats,  generally  before  they  were  married.  There  are  about 
half  a  million  blind  in  the  world  from  this  cause.  So  conscien- 
tious and  conservative  a  writer  as  Dr.  William  T.  Belfield,  pro- 
fessor in  Rush  Medical  College,  says  in  a  published  circular— 
which  bears  also  the  names  of  Bishop  Anderson,  Dr.  Frank 
Billings  and  Judge  Julian  W.  Mack — "There  are  at  least  10,- 
000  such  victims  among  our  blind  fellow-citizens. ' '  In  his  book 
"Man  and  Woman"  Dr.  Belfield  writes,  "Probably  25  per  cent 
of  the  blindness  of  children  is  thus  caused."  As  there  are 
about  two  million  blind  in  the  world,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  there 
are  half  a  million  blind  from  this  one  cause. 

In  Germany,  where  the  statistics  have  been  gathered  with 
great  care,  the  per  cent  is  given  at  40.25  and  the  number  of 
blind  from  this  cause  at  30,000.  The  superintendent  of  the  state 
school  for  the  blind  at  Jacksonville,  111.,  said  in  a  public  address 
that  if  this  one  cause  were  eliminated  the  applications  for  ad- 
mission to  the  school  would  immediately  be  decreased  by  one 
fourth. 

More  than  twenty-five  years  ago  Professor  Crede  announced, 
after  protracted  study  and  experiment,  that  a  solution  of  ni- 
trate of  silver — 2  per  cent. — dropped  in  the  eyes  of  a  new-born 
baby,  would  destroy  the  germs  that  cause  blindness  of  the  new- 
born without  injuring  the  eyes.  Nevertheless  the  proportion  of 
blindness  of  children  resulting  from  ophthalmia  neonatorum 
remains  above  25  per  cent,  as  the  following  tables  show : 


SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION  309 

PROPORTION  OF   VICTIMS  OF  OPHTHALMIA  OF  THE  NEW-BORN  IN  TEN 
SCHOOLS  FOR  THE  BLIND. 

For  the  year  1907: 

Ophthalmia 

New  of           Per 

Admissions  New-born    Cent 
Schools  for  Blind 

New  York   13  4             30.7 

Pennsylvania 27  9             33.33 

Massachusetts     43  13             30 

Colorado     7  3             42.8 

Western  Pennsylvania    28  8             28.57 

Missouri     19  6             31.57 

Connecticut     8  1             12.50 

Ohio     36  7             20 

Maryland     13  4             30.77 

Ontario 23  5             21.74 

Average  percentage  of  victims  of  ophthalmia  neonatorum  28.19 

TABLE  OF  PUPILS  WHO  ENTERED  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  SCHOOL  FOR  THE 

BLIND  DURING  1900-1909  SHOWING  THE 
PROPORTION  BLIND  FROM  OPHTHALMIA  NEONATORUM. 

Per  Cent 

1900 11  out  of  25 44 

1901 10  out  of  28 35 

1902 9  out  of  39 23 

1903 14  out  of  50 28 

1904 15  out  of  58 25 

1905 21  out  of  42 50 

1906 12  out  of  38 .31 

1907 9  out  of  34 26 

1908 11  out  of  29 37 

1909..     ..15  out  of  35..     ..44 


Average  for  Ten  Years  33.68 

These  tables  were  prepared  by  the  New  York  Committee  for 
the  Prevention  of  Blindness. 

THE  RED  MILLS  DEFORM  CHILDREN  AND  MUTILATE  WIVES. 

Deformities,  deafness,  necrosis  of  flesh  and  bones,  epilepsy 
and  insanity  are  among  the  afflictions  of  blameless  children  of 
guilty  fathers. 


310  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

Dr.  William  Osier,  formerly  of  Johns  Hopkins  Medical 
School,  Baltimore,  now  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  in  an  ar- 
ticle describing  the  diseases  which  are  the  greatest  scourges 
of  the  human  race,  such  as  cholera,  yellow  fever,  smallpox,  con- 
sumption, pneumonia  and  leprosy,  wrote  of  the  group  of  vene- 
real diseases : 

"  These  are  in  one  respect  the  worst  of  all  we  have  to  men- 
tion, for  they  are  the  only  ones  transmitted  in  full  virulence  to 
innocent  children  to  fill  their  lives  with  suffering,  and  which 
involve  equally  innocent  wives  in  the  misery  and  shame. ' ' 

Often  a  young,  loving,  trusting  bride  is  blasted  with  the  pre- 
vious sins  of  her  husband.  One  fourth  of  surgical  operations 
for  diseases  of  women  are  due  to  this  cause.  Physicians  tell 
us  we  have  not  overstated,  but  understated  the  truth,  in  this 
statement. 

A  physician  writes  to  the  Chicago  Society  of  Social  Hygiene : 

"Several  years  ago  there  came  under  my  care  a  case  that  I 
can  never  forget.  The  patient  was  a  bride  twenty-two  years 
old,  a  beautiful  woman  of  excellent  family.  An  operation, 
which  offered  the  only  chance  of  saving  her  life,  was  performed. 
All  went  well  for  a  few  days.  Her  husband,  who  had  been  con- 
stantly with  her,  was  called  away  on  urgent  business.  The  pa- 
tient suddenly  became  worse  and  died  before  his  return. ' ?  Her 
death  was  the  bitter  harvest  of  his  wild  oats.  She  is  one  of 
thousands  thus  destroyed  every  month  in  Christendom. 

THE  RED  MILLS  GRIND  OUT  MEN'S  BRAINS. 

One  physician  testified  under  oath  that  75  per  cent  of  the 
patients  that  he  was  obliged  to  certify  as  insane  became  such 
from  venereal  disease.  Dr.  G.  Fielding  Blandford  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  wrote  in  his  medical  treatise,  Insanity  and 
its  Treatment,  page  94: 

"Syphilitic  insanity  is  usually  spoken  of  as  syphilitic  demen- 
tia, which  gradually  progresses  until  life  is  extinguished  in  no 
long  time,  and  the  appearance  found  after  death  is  described  as 
syphiloma,  or  a  gummy  tumor  found  within  the  brain  itself,  or> 


SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION  311 

a  diffuse  fibrinous  exudation  between  the  membranes  and  the 
brain. 

"You  will  find  in  the  majority  of  cases  of  syphilitic  insanity 
that  changes  and  degeneration  have  commenced  in  the  bones, 
membranes,  or  brain,  rendering  the  prognosis  extremely  un- 
favorable/' 

Concerning  the  form  of  insanity  known  as  general  paraly- 
sis of  the  insane,  he  wrote,  pages  269,  294: 

"I  have  now  to  lay  before  you  the  description  of  a  terrible 
form  of  insanity,  which  is  probably  the  most  fatal  disease  that 
attacks  man,  destroying  in  a  short  period  not  only  mind,  but 
life  itself — so  fatal  that  a  well  authenticated  case  of  recovery 
is,  I  believe,  unknown — so  common  that  among  194  patients  ad- 
mitted during  the  year  into  the  Devon  asylum,  43  were  affected 
by  it 

"1  have  held  for  some  years  the  opinion,  based  altogether  on 
my  observation  of  cases,  that  sexual  excess  has  more  to  do 
with  the  causation  of  it  than  anything  else." 

The  twentieth  annual  report  of  the  State  Commission  in 
Lunacy,  of  the  State  of  New  York,  ending  September  30,  1908 
on  page  82,  says  of  33  cases  of  general  paralysis:  "Of  the  33 
cases  23  were  of  the  cerebral  and  10  of  the  tabetic.  There  was 
a  definite  and  unquestionable  history  of  syphilis  in  13.  The 
interval  between  infection  and  the  onset  of  the  symptoms  of 
general  paralysis  ranges  between  one  and  a  half  and  28  years. ' ' 

An  attendant  of  the  asylum  at  Elgin,  Illinois,  told  me  he  knew 
of  three  young  men,  rich  men's  sons  from  Chicago,  who  died 
in  that  asylum  of  paresis  or  general  paralysis. 

THE  RED  MILL  DESTROYS  THE  SPINAL  CORD. 

To  illustrate  the  fallacy  of  the  attempt  to  prevent  disease  by 
segregation  and  medical  inspection  of  immoral  women,  the  late 
Dr.  Daniel  E.  Brower,  the  eminent  specialist  in  nervous  dis- 
eases and  insanity,  said  before  The  Physicians'  Club  of  Chi- 
cago, October  30,  1906,  that  he  was  then  treating  a  man  for  lo- 
comotor  ataxia  (due  to  syphilis  of  the  spinal  cord)  who  con- 


312  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

traded  the  syphilitic  lesion  in  Paris,  from  a  woman  who  had 
that  day  been  inspected  and  pronounced  well.  He  was  treating 
also  a  man  with  gonorrhea,  who  contracted  the  disease  in  To- 
kyo, where  the  Japanese  government  has  segregated  prosti- 
tutes in  the  part  of  the  city  called  Yoshiwara  since  1626.  Dr. 
Brower  pronounced  the  women  in  their  cages  in  that  hideous 
flesh  market  "a  most  disgusting  sight. " 

At  the  same  meeting  of  The  Physicians'  Club,  where  the 
subject  under  discussion  was  the  Venereal  Peril,  Dr.  Wm.  L. 
Baum  said  that  some  of  the  worst  cases  of  disease  in  Chicago 
were  contracted  in  the  "high-toned"  resorts,  which  claim  to 
be  kept  in  a  healthy  condition. 

SEGREGATION  LICENSES  AND  PROTECTS  THE  RED  MILLS. 

It  is  productions  such  as  have  been  described  that  Bed  Mills 
turn  out.  Nothing  has  been  said  of  the  moral  and  domestic 
results  of  the  Bed  Mill's  grist,  but  only  of  its  physical  output. 
It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  humiliation  of  wives  and  chil- 
dren and  the  mental  torment  of  offenders  and  victims  alike. 
What  can  equal  the  horror  of  going  insane  with  the  knowledge 
that  the  impending  ruin  is  the  wages  of  sin — this  shameful 
sin — of  leaving  a  wife  worse  than  widowed  and  children  worse 
than  orphans  1  Do  not  think  that  men  do  not  foresee  the  doom ; 
sometimes  they  do.  Segregation  is  license  of  such  helldom  as 
this.  It  gives  a  permit  and  police  protection  to  the  worst  crim- 
inals in  the  world  to  dispense  blindness,  tumors,  abscesses, 
paralysis,  insanity,  broken  hearts  and  coffins. 

At  a  meeting  of  The  American  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral 
Prophylaxis,  held  at  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine, 
Thursday,  December  22,  1910,  the  president,  Dr.  Prince  A. 
Morrow,  read  the  following  letter  from  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
Emeritus  President  of  Harvard  University : 

Dear  Dr.  Morrow: 

I  congratulate  you  on  the  subjects  for  discussion  at  the  forthcoming  meeting  of 
your  society  on  December  twenty -second,  and  I  regret  that  my  engagements  here 
make  it  impossible  for  me  to  attend  the  meeting. 

The  more  I  reflect  upon  the  reform  to  which  you  are  devoting  yourself,  the  clearer 


SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION  313 

it  seems  to  me  that  the  aims  should  be:  (1)  the  public  registration  of  cases  of  venereal 
disease,  (2)  public  hospital  for  the  treatment  of  venereal  disease,  (3)  the  suppression 
of  brothels.  Considering  what  preventive  medicine  has  accomplished  during  the  past 
hundred  years,  and  particularly  during  the  last  fifteen  years,  by  preventing  the  dis- 
tribution of  contagia,  is  it  not  extraordinary  that  civilized  society  actually  tolerates, 
and  in  some  sense  maintains,  public  foci  for  the  uninterrupted  distribution  of  venereal 
disease,  the  most  destructive  of  all  diseases?  The  fact  that  they  are  sin  and  shame 
diseases  only  makes  worse  in  its  effects  the  policy  of  silence  and  secrecy  about  them. 

THE  MINISTERS'  ARGUMENTS  AGAINST  SEGREGATED  VICE. 

Here  is  a  convincing  argument  against  the  policy  of  segre- 
gation of  vice  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  made  by  the  Baptist  Min- 
isters '  Conference  of  Chicago,  Monday  morning,  December  27th, 
1909.  The  Methodist  ministers  took  a  similar  stand  on  Novem- 
ber 1,  of  the  same  year. 

Let  us  understand  what  is  meant  by  the  term  segregation.  If 
it  were  socially  what  it  is  medically  we  might  have  some  pa- 
tience with  it.  But  segregation  of  vice  in  this  city  is  not  a  quar- 
antine of  the  social  evil  but  an  exploitation  of  it. 

Segregation  is  a  police  policy,  by  executive  order,  for  the  reg- 
ulation and  control  of  institutionalized  prostitution. 

Segregation  is  the  open  combining  of  the  houses  of  ill  fame 
with  the  lowest  type  of  liquor  saloon.  While  just  at  the  present 
there  is  a  partial  divorcement  of  the  resorts  and  the  saloons, 
yet  they  are  still  so  close  together  as  to  operate  hand  in  hand 
to  the  continued  great  damage  of  the  city. 

Segregation  is  practical  confiscation  of  property,  because  the 
owners  of  property  in  a  segregated  district  must  sell  or  rent 
their  property  for  illegal  purposes  or  take  a  very  low  rental 
for  lawful  businesses. 

Segregation  is  cruel  injustice  to  the  poor.  The  poor  people 
who  are  unfortunate  enough  to  live  in  a  segregated  portion  of 
the  city  are  compelled  to  witness  the  infamous  trade  of  pros- 
titution, and  to  allow  their  children  to  grow  up  accustomed  to 
the  lowest  sort  of  social  life.  Few  children  can  escape  life-long 
ruin  under  such  conditions. 

Segregation  is  the  most  deplorable  promotion  of  crime.  This 
policy  gives  over  a  portion  of  the  city's  domain  to  the  most 


314  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

loathsome  criminals  of  the  world,  whose  trade  is  to  debauch 
the  innocent  and  to  exploint  the  debauched. 

Segregation  is  recognition  of  a  frightful  evil  in  a  manner  to 
commend  the  wrong  to  the  loose-moraled  and  the  untutored, 
thus  drawing  many  more  thousands  of  youth  into  sin  than 
would  be  the  case  under  a  policy  that  enforced  the  law  against 
all  such  evil  businesses. 

Segregation  is  encouragement  to  the  city  authorities  to  ex- 
ploit vice  for  private  gain.  It  has  come  to  pass  in  our  great 
cities  that  the  political  balance  of  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
corrupt  politicians  that  represent  the  segregated  districts,  or  at 
least  the  evil  forces  of  the  cities. 

Segregation  is  the  scheme  that  is  most  pleasing  to  the  keepers 
of  evil  resorts  and  to  the  White  Slave  traders  of  all  nations. 
Such  districts  invite  and  protect  the  White  Slave  Trade. 

Segregation  is  assurance  of  immunity  to  all  sorts  of  crimi- 
nals, of  which  they  are  not  slow  to  take  advantage. 

Segregation  is  the  most  successful  means  of  debauching  the 
country  people  who  come  to  the  city  for  trade.  Such  districts 
become  one  of  the  great  sights  of  the  city,  to  which  often  the 
city  merchant  either  takes  or  sends  his  country  customers. 

Segregation  spreads  disease  much  more  rapidly  than  could 
be  the  case  under  strict  enforcement  of  law.  Men  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  so  called  inspection  is  a  protection,  when  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  best  physicians  testify  that  no  amount  of 
inspection  or  treatment  affords  any  protection  against  the  awful 
diseases  that  are  the  inevitable  fruitage  of  the  social  evil. 

Segregation  is  a  woeful  deception.  It  is  claimed  that  such 
districts  protect  the  residence  portions  of  the  city.  Even  cold 
statistics  disprove  this  assertion.  Take  for  example  the  22nd 
Street  Eed-light  district  in  Chicago.  The  police  say  there  are 
about  1100  immoral  women  there  but  over  1200  outside  as  far 
south  as  31st  street.  It  is  proven  by  recent  investigations  that 
many  portions  of  the  city,  and  even  the  remoter  suburbs,  are 
becoming  infested  by  houses  of  illrepute. 

Segregation  as  a  policy  for  the  restriction  and  control  of  the 


SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION  315 

social  evil  is  an  expensive  failure.  It  reverses  the  divine  order 
and  seeks  to  make  the  way  of  the  transgressor  easy  instead  of 
hard.  Other  cities  have  given  up  this  sort  of  thing  and  it  is 
time  for  Chicago  to  do  the  same. 

THE  JUDGE'S  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  PROTECTED  VICE. 

The  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate  of  Chicago,  on  Janu- 
ary 25, 1911,  puhlished  an  article  part  of  which  follows,  in  which 
Judge  William  N.  Gemmill  expresses  not  only  his  personal 
convictions  but  virtually  the  convictions  of  most  of  the  upright 
judges  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  world. 

In  1899,  and  again  in  1902,  an  international  conference,  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  thirty-three  nations,  met  in  Brussels 
and  considered  the  question  in  all  its  bearings  upon  the  health 
and  welfare  of  the  nations.  The  great  majority  of  the  dele- 
gates to  these  conferences  came  from  nations  where  the  social 
evil  was  regulated  by  license,  but  the  conference  refused,  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote,  to  recommend  that  system  for  the 
government  of  their  cities.  The  experiences  of  Paris,  Vienna, 
Berlin,  and  St.  Petersburg,  where  regulation  under  strict  medi- 
cal and  police  supervision  had  long  been  an  established  policy, 
showed  nothing  of  advantage,  but  an  increasing  opportunity 
for  crime,  corruption,  and  disease  which  shocked  even  the  advo- 
cates of  the  system  in  the  conference. 

The  cities  in  England  and  America,  with  but  few  exceptions, 
have  consistently  refused  to  license  the  social  evil,  congratulat- 
ing themselves  that  they  possessed  a  higher  moral  instinct  than 
the  municipalities  of  Asia  and  continental  Europe.  But  what 
we  have  refused  to  license  under  laws  providing  for  police  and 
medical  supervision,  we  have  tolerated  without  either  medical 
or  lawful  police  supervision.  The  consequence  of  such  a  policy 
is  that  we  have  a  condition  in  our  cities  of  uncontrolled  lawless- 
ness which  ought  to  put  to  shame  every  sober-minded  citizen. 

*  *  # 

A  large  district  in  Chicago  is  set  apart  wherein  men  and 
women  are  permitted  to  violate  every  law  of  the  city  and  state 


316  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

intended  to  make  the  community  decent,  healthful,  and  law- 
abiding,  and  in  which  refuges  of  crime  are  established,  which 
are  not  only  immune  from  prosecution,  but  are  protected  from 
interference  by  the  sworn  officers  of  the  law.  No  community 
will  be  law-abiding  unless  it  has  respect  for  the  law,  and  no 
one  will  have  much  respect  for  a  law  unless  it  has  back  of  it  a 
power  that  will  compel  its  enforcement. 

Our  legislative  bodies  have  usually  been  in  advance  of  the 
majority  of  the  citizens  whom  they  represent  in  legislating  upon 
moral  and  social  questions,  and  it  has  frequently  happened  that 
the  majority  of  the  citizens  of  a  community  have  been  opposed, 
from  sentiment  or  principle,  to  certain  laws  touching  the  social 

welfare. 

#  *        # 

Where,  however,  is  the  man  or  the  set  of  men  who  will  say 
that  the  laws  of  our  state  and  city  which  are  intended  to  sup- 
press dives  and  disorderly  houses  should  be  repealed?  Where 
is  the  man  who,  either  in  private  or  in  public,  will  assert  that  by 
the  enforcement  of  these  laws  his  constitutional  rights  are  in- 
fringed upon!  Where  is  the  man  who  over  his  own  signature 
will  say  that  these  plague  spots  in  the  city  with  their  dens  of 
thieves  are  either  a  benefit  or  a  necessity  to  him  or  the  com- 
munity? Canvass  the  citizenship  of  Chicago,  and,  no  matter 
what  their  religion  or  their  politics,  ninety  per  cent,  of  them 
will  tell  you  that  these  disreputable  institutions  are  a  menace 

to  the  community  and  ought  to  be  wiped  out. 

•  *        • 

The  greatest  problem  of  civil  governments  is  to  determine 
how  to  make  it  the  easiest  for  men  and  women  to  live  moral, 
healthful,  and  happy  lives  and  the  hardest  for  them  to  become 
immoral,  unhealthy,  and  criminal.  The  only  difference  between 
the  habitants  of  a  small  town  and  those  of  a  large  city  are  that 
in  the  latter  more  of  the  lawless  and  criminal  congregate. 

Must  the  law-abiding  citizens  of  Chicago  maintain  these  dis- 
reputable institutions  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  law-breaker 
and  the  criminal?  But,  it  is  said,  if  these  houses  are  closed, 


SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION  317 

what  will  become  of  the  eight  thousand  and  more  girls  who  are 
at  present  inmates  of  them  and  who  will  be  cast  adrift?  It  is 
urged  by  some  that  they  will  be  scattered  throughout  the  city, 
where  they  will  pollute  two  million  respectable  citizens.  If  the 
evil  influence  of  the  eight  thousand  bad  people  upon  two  mil- 
lion good  people  is  greater  than  the  good  influence  of  the  two 
million  good  people  upon  the  eight  thousand  bad  people,  then 
the  two  million  good  ought  to  be  offered  as  a  vicarious  sacri- 
fice. They  will  not,  however,  be  thus  scattered  if  the  decent 
people  and  the  officers  of  the  law  do  their  duty.  Most  of  them 
will  flee  to  other  and  more  lawless  communities. 

The  real  problem  is  not  what  to  do  with  the  present  inmates 
of  these  houses.  Death  will  soon  solve  that  problem.  The  aver- 
age life  of  the  girls  in  these  institutions  is  about  five  years. 
Five  years  from  now  most  of  the  eight  thousand  girls  now  in 
these  places  in  Chicago  will  be  dead,  and  eight  thousand  re- 
cruits will  have  taken  their  places;  in  ten^years  another  eight 
thousand  will  have  in  turn  taken  their  places.  Nothing  is  more 
certain  than  if  the  law  is  enforced  and  all  these  institutions  are 
closed  and  kept  closed,  the  next  eight  thousand  girls,  and  the 
next,  and  the  next,  will  not  get  into  them,  and  most  of  them  will 

be  saved  to  lives  of  respectability. 

*  *        * 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked  why  are  not  these  girls 
fined  more  heavily  or  sent  to  jail  when  brought  into  court. 
Every  dollar  of  fine  assessed  against  them  but  adds  that  much 
to  the  burden  of  debt  they  owe  to  their  keepers,  and  prolongs 
their  period  of  slavery.  Until  their  debt  is  paid  even  their 
street  clothes  are  held  as  a  pawn  for  their  freedom.  The  whole 
system  of  fines  in  such  cases  is  wrong,  but  it  is  a  part  of  the 
general  folly  of  trying  to  regulate  a  business  that  is  wholly  im- 
moral and  illegal. 

*  *        * 

Our  cities  boast  of  their  efficient  boards  of  health.  Through 
them  the  strictest  quarantine  is  enforced  against  the  ravages 
of  diphtheria,  scarlet  fever,  yellow  fever,  and  smallpox.  The 


818  SEGREGATION  VS.  ELIMINATION 

victims  of  these  dread  diseases  are  completely  isolated.  But 
the  scourge  of  these  terrible  maladies  combined  does  not  equal 
the  black  plague  that  arises  from  these  segregated  districts, 
about  which  there  is  no  quarantine,  but  in  and  out  of  which 
daily  go  thousands  of  people  spreading  the  contagion  to  tens  of 
thousands  of  innocent  victims. 

Let  every  owner  or  lessor  of  the  buildings  used  for  criminal 
purposes  be  the  first  to  be  arrested  and  sent  to  jail.  Let  every 
disorderly  house  be  closed  and  kept  closed,  and  I  am  sure  that 
the  first  mayor  who  inaugurates  such  a  reform  will  be  applaud- 
ed by  ninety  per  cent  of  the  voting  population  of  Chicago. 

To  the  preceding  arguments  of  physicians,  educators,  clergy- 
men and  judges,  we  could  add  the  cry  of  good  women,  as  voiced 
in  England  by  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler  and  in  America  by  Miss 
Frances  E.  Willard  and  the  Woman's  Christian  Union.  But 
even  the  traffickers  in  women  know  that  there  is  no  real  argu- 
ment in  behalf  of  their  abominable  trade.  Some  of  them  have 
said  to  our  missionaries,  "You  people  have  all  the  argument; 
nothing  can  be  said  on  our  side." 

The  government  that  protects  houses  of  ill  repute  is  not  civ- 
ilized. Politicians  who  protect  these  places  deserve  to  be  made 
cell-mates  in  the  penitentiary  with  the  White  Slave  traders. 
Neither  the  traffickers  or  the  politicians,  who  give  them  a  permit 
to  trample  the  laws  in  the  sewers,  can  escape  damnation. 

Because  vice  makes  war  upon  the  soul,  ensnares  Sunday 
school  girls,  debauches  choir  boys,  blights  homes,  blasts  inno- 
cent wives,  blinds  helpless  babies,  keeps  young  men  away  from 
church  and  devours  their  wages,  with  which  they  might  sup- 
port churches,  missions,  hospitals,  orphanages  and  every  good 
cause;  because  a  vice  district  engulfs  great  cathedral-like  edi- 
fices as  if  a  volcano  had  opened  beneath  them;  therefore  the 
church  of  God  should  make  war  upon  this  vice  and  this  traffic, 
which  makes  war  upon  the  soul,  and  upon  the  church,  which  is 
the  earthly  home  of  the  soul. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS. 

By  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell,  B.  A.,  Superintendent  of  the  Midnight  Mission, 

Chicago,  111. 

Liquor  and  Lust— The  Inseparable  Twins— The  Saloon  and  the  Brothel  the 
arch-destroyer  of  women— Vice  cannot  exist  without  drink— True  storiei 
and  incidents  gathered  in  the  underworld  of  vice  and  shame. 

Liquor  and  lust  are  commonly  so  inseparable  that  we  inevit- 
ably think  of  the  saloon  and  the  brothel  together.  So  much  is 
this  the  case  that  liquor  dealers  who  fear  the  destruction  of 
their  business  because  of  its  alliance  with  vice,  are  seeking  to 
extricate  the  liquor  trade  from  the  unsavory  partnership.  The 
saloon  is  the  arch  destroyer  of  men,  the  brothel  the  arch  de- 
stroyer of  women.  A  sort  of  hellish  blood-relationship  exists 
between  them. 

While  it  is  quite  true  that  many  men  drink  even  to  drunken- 
ness, without  being  licentious,  and  that  some  women  are  im- 
moral who  do  not  drink,  yet  the  ages-long  and  world-wide  as- 
sociation of  drink  and  vice  makes  of  the  two  a  sort  of  insepar- 
able Siamese  Twins.  The  only  apology  to  be  offered  in  using 
the  expression  that  heads  this  chapter  is  not  to  drink,  not  to 
vice,  not  to  the  devil,  but  to  the  memory  of  the  Siamese  broth- 
ers. 

In  Chicago  we  have  had  until  May  1,  1910,  the  combination 
of  saloon  and  brothel  in  one  building  with  open  doors  from 
the  bar  to  the  indecent  resort.  Hundreds  of  resorts  which  had 
no  saloon  attachment  sold  liquor  without  a  license,  the  city  gov- 
ernment giving  them  a  practical  bounty  of  $1,000  a  year,  the 
price  of  a  saloon  license.  It  seems  unthinkable  that  a  govern- 
ment sworn  to  execute  the  laws  could  be  so  reduced  to  anarchy 

319 


320  THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS 

in  this  respect.  Yet  this  was  the  infamous  position  of  our  city 
government  until  May  1, 1910.  On  May  15, 1907,  in  presence  of 
Arthur  Burrage  Farwell,  president  of  the  Chicago  Law  and 
Order  League,  Deaconess  Lucy  A.  Hall  and  several  other  per- 
sons, I  heard  the  Mayor  of  Chicago  positively  refuse  to  sup- 
press the  illegal  sale  of  liquor  in  houses  of  ill-fame.  On  two 
subsequent  occasions  he  renewed  the  refusal  to  suppress  the 
unlicensed  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  in  houses  of  prostitution. 
These  refusals  were  brought  to  the  notice  of  two  grand  juries, 
which  notified  the  mayor  and  the  chief  of  police  of  the  unlawful 
condition,  which  they  were  tolerating.  Early  in  1910,  LeRoy 
T.  Steward,  who  had  been  in  office  as  chief  of  police  for  a  few 
months,  determined  to  suppress  the  sale  of  liquor  in  the  resorts, 
and  issued  an  order  to  that  effect  to  become  operative  May  1, 
1910.  The  order  was  issued  in  perfect  good  faith  and  has  been 
honestly  enforced  by  the  chief,  who  has  had  difficulty  to  get 
honest  co-operation  from  his  subordinates. 

To  illustrate  the  way  the  chief's  order  is  not  obeyed,  the  fol- 
lowing statement  of  an  efficient  investigator  well  known  to  the 
Chicago  Law  and  Order  League  is  here  given,  abridged  from 
the  investigator's  report  under  date  of  February  27,  1911. 

RAIDING  A  RESORT. 

"Mr.  B.  M.  and  myself  entered  above  house  last  night  at  11 
o'clock.  Beer  was  ordered  all  around,  and  we  had  to  pay  a  dol- 
lar for  same.  We  made  inquiries  for  the  nice  young  girl  nine- 
teen years  of  age  that  the  woman  promised  us  when  we  were 
there  before.  When  the  girl  came  she  proved  to  be  a  young 
woman  very  much  out  of  place  in  such  a  resort.  The  girl  broke 
down  and  cried  and  protested  against  the  life  she  was  going 
to  live,  saying  among  other  things  that  she  was  not  that  kind 
of  a  girl,  but  some  well-to-do  man  of  this  city  had  brought  about 
her  ruin,  and  she  had  started  on  the  downward  road  and  did  not 
know  how  to  stop  it. 

"I  called  up  Mr.  Farwell  and  laid  the  matter  before  him.  He 
directed  me  to  go  to  the  police  station.  We  did  so  and  had  a 


THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS 

talk  with  the  sergeant  on  duty  He  called  in  Detective  Sergeant 

B and  they  decided  to  go  and  take  the  young  woman  into 

custody.  We  also  told  the  officers  about  the  beer  we  had  bought 
in  that  flat,  so  the  sergeant  was  instructed  to  take  all  the  beer 
found. 

"We  went  to  the  flat  and  were  admitted.  After  a  minute  or 
so  came  the  officers,  and  then  came  confusion.  We  were  in- 
formed that  we  could  not  see  the  young  girl,  but  she  was  finally 
produced.  She  was  ordered  to  get  her  clothes  and  come  along. 
In  the  meantime  we  had  a  merry  row  with  the  woman  who 
keeps  the  resort.  I  entered  the  kitchen  and  found  in  the  ice-box 
over  twenty-five  quarts  of  Edelweiss  beer.  I  asked  the  sergeant 
to  go  out  and  take  it.  He  sent  one  of  the  officers  along  with  me, 
but  when  we  got  to  the  kitchen  the  landlady  was  at  the  door  and 
forbade  us  to  enter.  After  some  talk  she  let  the  officer  in,  but 
forbade  me  to  come,  calling  me  all  the  vile  names  she  could 
think  of  and  threatening  to  blow  my  brains  out  and  cut  me  open 
—the  officer  never  telling  her  to  keep  quiet. 

'The  officer  looked  in  the  ice-box  and  said  he  did  not  see  any- 
thing. I  asked  him  if  he  did  not  see  some  bottles  of  beer— 
which  she  had  covered  over  with  a  cloth.  He  admitted  that  he 
saw  some  bottles  there — "of  milk"  the  woman  said.  I  went  out 

and  called  Sergeant  B .  He  came  a  moment  later,  but  now 

the  landlady  got  mad  for  good  and  she  was  acting  like  a  crazy 
being.  I  expected  her  to  do  me  physical  harm,  and  all  the  while 
the  officer  was  standing  around  and  not  doing  anything.  So  I 
demanded  to  know  if  he  would  stand  there  and  let  me  be  abused 
like  that.  He  said  nothing,  but  the  woman  yelled  at  me  "I  will 
get  a  big  Irishman  I  have  at  the  central  police  station  to  come 
and  split  your  head  open  soon." 

1  i  I  then  asked  the  sergeant  to  do  his  duty  and  get  that  beer,  and 
not  let  us  waste  time  on  that  woman.  He  replied  that  he  would 
attend  to  that  and  for  me  to  mind  my  business,  but  he  went  to 
the  ice-box  and  took  out  one  bottle  of  beer.  I  asked  him  if  that 
was  all  he  could  find  and  he  stated  that  was  none  of  my  business. 
We  then  left  and  just  as  we  had  gone  outside  the  door,  the  ser- 


21 


322  THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS 

geant  was  called  back  by  the  woman  and  he  had  some  talk  with 
her.  We  all  proceeded  to  the  police  station.  The  young  girl 
was  booked  and  sent  to  the  annex  for  women  at  Harrison  Street 
police  station.  We  received  permission  to  ride  with  her  in  the 
patrol  wagon  and  on  the  way  had  a  long  talk  with  her.  At  the 
annex  she  asked  us  to  send  a  telegram  to  her  sister  in  New  Or- 
leans, which  we  did.  She  is  a  very  beautiful  girl,  with  a  high 
school  education,  good  breeding  and  fine  presence." 

Of  course  there  is  great  profit  in  beer  and  other  drinks  at 
the  prices  that  are  charged  in  resorts — in  some  place  a  dollar 
a  bottle  for  beer,  five  dollars  a  bottle  for  wine.  A  single  resort 
records  a  sale  of  thirty  thousand  bottles  of  beer  in  a  year,  with 
a  probable  profit  of  more  than  $6,000. 

Not  only  is  the  liquor  sold  for  the  profit  it  yields  directly, 
but  it  inflames  low  desire  and  also  faciliates  robbery,  which 
is  of  constant  occurrence  in  the  resorts.  Many  vicious  women 
are  expert  pickpockets  and  many  others  are  very  skillful  in  per- 
suading foolish  men  to  part  with  their  money  in  what  they  madly 
consider  a  good  time. 

HIGH  SCIENTIFIC  TESTIMONY. 

In  the  great  work  of  Professor  Von  Krafft-Ebing,  M.  D.,  en- 
titled Psychopathia  Sexualis  he  wrote  on  page  40  in  Redman's 
English  adaptation  of  the  twelfth  German  edition : 

"To  civilized  man  the  ready  presence  of  ideas  which  exhibit 
sexual  desire  is  of  distinct  import.  The  moral  freedom  of  the 
individual  and  the  decision  whether  under  certain  circumstances, 
excess  and  even  crime,  be  committed  or  not,  depend,  on  one  hand, 
upon  the  strength  of  the  instictive  impulses  and  the  accom- 
panying organic  sensations ;  on  the  other,  upon  the  power  of  the 
inhibitory  ideas.  Constitution  and  especially  organic  influences, 
have  a  marked  effect  upon  the  instinctive  impulses;  education 
and  self-control  counteract  the  opposing  influences. 

"The  exciting  and  inhibitory  powers  are  variable  quantities. 
For  instance,  over-indulgence  in  alcohol  is  very  fatal  in  this  re- 


THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS  323 

spect,  since  it  awakens  and  increases  sexual  desire,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  weakens  moral  resistance/' 

With  Dr.  Krafft-Ebing  agrees  Dr.  G.  H.  Van  Dyke,  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  Chicago,  which  is  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Illinois.  Dr.  Van 
Dyke  writes : 

"The  battle  against  the  ever-present  and  alert  sexual  desire 
is  made  very  much  harder  to  win  if  stimulants  are  indulged  in ; 
first,  because  of  the  direct  effect  they  have  upon  those  organs, 
and,  second,  because  of  the  evil  company  the  user  of  stimulants 
seeks. 

' '  Even  the  milder  stimulants,  as  tea  and  coffee,  are  injurious 
to  the  young  boy,  and  the  stronger  ones,  as  tobacco,  beer,  and 
whiskey,  are  to  be  absolutely  discarded  by  the  one  who  is  trying 
to  lead  a  clean  life.  Frequently  acts  are  committed  under  their 
influence,  that  would  not  be  allowed  at  other  times.  It  is  very 
common,  and  sad,  too,  for  those  overtaken  by  a  sexual  disease 
for  the  first  time,  to  say,  "I  was  with  the  boys  and  we  had 
a  few  drinks,  or  I  would  not  have  done  it."  The  user  of  stim- 
ulants and  an  impure  life  are  so  commonly  associated  that  it  is 
not  often  one  is  found  alone." 

DRINK  AND  DANCE  HALLS. 

If  it  is  hazardous  to  a  young  man's  character  to  indulge  in 
liquor,  it  is  almost  fatal  to  a  young  girl's  virtue  to  drink. 
Destroyers  of  girls  almost  invariably  induce  them  to  drink  and 
dance.  Since  the  writing  of  this  chapter  was  begun  Miss  Jane 
Addams,  America's  best  known  woman  has  made  an  address 
before  the  Chicago  Credit  Men's  Association  in  which  she  said: 

"There  are  306  licensed  and  100  or  more  unlicensed  dance 
halls  running  in  Chicago.  The  main  support  of  most  of  them  is 
their  sale  of  liquor.  They  have  four  minute  dances  and  twenty 
minute  intermissions,  in  which  every  opportunity  and  encour- 
agement to  drink  is  given  the  dancers.  As  most  of  the  attend- 
ants are  boys  between  sixteen  and  eighteen  and  girls  between 
fourteen  and  sixteen,  and  as  there  are  about  28,000  attendants 


324  THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS 

each  night,  this  readiness  of  the  hall  proprietors  to  encourage 
intoxication  becomes  a  point  of  some  interest. 

' '  Everything  about  the  halls  converges  to  get  the  dancers  into 
trouble,  to  befuddle  them  with  liquor  until  they  forget  the  pro- 
prieties— even  the  decencies.  Present  supervision  is  inadequate ; 
during  the  recent  investigation  it  was  found  that  of  158  police- 
men on  duty  at  various  halls  only  seventeen  were  paying  atten- 
tion to  anything  except  the  stopping  an  occasional  fight. 

"The  same  things  which  apply  to  dance  halls  may  be  said  to 
apply  to  the  excursion  steamers  which  ply  the  lake  in  summer. 
They  need  supervision.  Dancing  is  surely  an  innocent  pastime ; 
sailing  certainly  should  be — yet  under  present  conditions  both 
are  distinctly  dangerous. ' ' 

LIQUOR  ROBS  CHILDREN  OP  PARENTAL  CARE. 

Indirectly  liquor  is  a  fruitful  cause  of  vice  by  making  fathers 
and  mothers  too,  morally  incapable  of  caring  for  their  children. 
Drunken  fathers  and  mothers  are  unable  to  govern  their  boys 
and  girls,  and  of  course  they  are  unable  to  set  them  the  right  ex- 
ample of  self-control. 

The  vice  resorts  are  recruited  and  supported  from  weak  and 
silly  of  both  sexes — who  ought  to  be  protected,  restrained  and 
corrected,  and  will  be  whenever  we  become  Christianized.  It 
is  not  enough  to  put  safety  appliances  in  mills  and  factories  and 
on  railway  cars  and  tracks ;  there  must  also  be  moral  safety  ap- 
pliances to  prevent  moral  injuries  and  death. 

Many  young  wives,  finding  their  husbands  worthless  from 
drink  and  other  evil  habits,  sink  into  the  ranks  of  fallen  women. 
It  is  appalling  how  many  prostitutes  have  been  wives,  and 
mothers. 

The  following  story  has  been  written  for  their  chapter  by  the 
Rev.  Alice  Phillips  Aldrich — the  Tragedy  of  Lotty. 

MAN,  WOMAN  AND  WINE— THE  TRAGEDY  OF  LOTTY. 

Charlotte  H.,  or  Lotty  as  we  called  her,  was  left  an  orphan 
when  but  a  little  child,  and  was  placed  in  a  children's  home  in 
Detroit. 


THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS  325 

When  she  was  very  young  she  was  sent  to  a  family  in  another 
city.  The  woman  who  took  her  promised  to  give  her  good  care, 
and  bring  her  up  in  the  right  way. 

The  woman  failed  to  do  right  by  the  gentle  little  orphan;  was 
very  unkind  and  quick  tempered  with  her,  and  made  her  life 
very  unhappy.  Lotty  had  no  one  to  tell ;  and  was  really  afraid 
to  write  the  superintendent  of  the  Orphans'  School,  as  she  felt 
she  would  not  be  understood. 

But  as  she  grew  older,  she  began  to  plan  to  be  free  from  her 
unpleasant  home.  She  was  nearly  18;  and  had  had  no  oppor- 
tunity to  make  friends ;  but  through  the  lady  who  lived  next  door, 
who  pitied  her,  she  was  informed  that  she  would  soon  be  of  age. 
It  was  not  long  before  she  left  the  place  called  home,  where  she 
had  been  so  lonely  and  sad. 

Lotty  hardly  knew  what  to  do,  or  where  to  go,  but  secured  work 
in  a  chair  factory ;  and  through  one  of  the  girls,  found  a  cheap 
room.  This  would  have  been  well,  if  the  girl  and  the  woman 
who  kept  the  house  where  she  roomed  had  been  all  right.  But, 
unfortunately,  they  were  not,  and  while  it  was  not  really  a  house 
of  ill  repute,  the  woman  was  vain  and  silly,  and  without  char- 
acter. One  evening  Lotty  was  told  that  company  was  coming 
and  she  must  look  her  best  as  the  two  young  men  were  "swell." 
Lotty  did  as  they  told  her  and  was  much  impressed  with  the 
appearance  of  the  two  young  men  she  met. 

The  poor  girl  was  very  much  pleased,  and  had  what  she  called 
a  fine  time ;  after  supper  one  of  the  young  men  paid  her  so  much 
attention  that  Lotty  was  all  aflutter  and  much  flattered.  The 
company  left  about  11  o  'clock,  but  before  going,  one  of  them  had 
secured  a  promise  to  go  driving  the  next  evening  after  work. 
He  was  to  meet  her  as  she  came  out  of  the  factory  and  take  her 
to  supper. 

That  night  the  poor,  simple  girl  was  so  excited,  that  she  could 
hardly  sleep,  and  when  she  did,  she  dreamed  of  her  gallant 
knight  and  thought  she  was  a  great  lady. 

The  next  morning  she  clad  herself  in  her  best  and  borrowed 
some  trinkets  from  her  girl  friends.  She  could  hardly  wait 


326  THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS 

till  the  night  came.  At  last  the  bell  rang  to  cease  work  and 
with  much  excitement  she  prepared  herself  for  her  longed-for 
drive.  When  she  left  she  found  the  young  man  waiting.  He 
treated  her  very  respectfully  and  helped  her  into  the  carriage 
and  Lotty  thought  there  never  was  so  happy  and  proud  a  girl 
in  the  world  as  she. 

She  was  much  pleased  when  Mr.  M.  told  her  that  he  was  going 
to  take  her  to  his  Auntie's,  just  outside  the  city,  in  a  fine  old 
home.  And  long  before  they  reached  the  house  he  had  won  the 
confidence  of  the  poor,  confiding  girl  and  learned  her  life  story, 
— a  story  which  aught  to  have  melted  the  heart  of  anyone,— 
but  it  only  helped  this  son  of  Baal  to  accomplish  his  ends  more 
easily.  At  last  they  reached  the  house.  As  they  drove  in, 
they  were  met  by  a  man  who  took  charge  of  the  horse,  and  at 
the  door  a  butler  awaited  them.  Poor  Lotty  trembled  with  ex- 
pectation and  almost  believed  her  dreams  had  come  true.  They 
were  shown  into  a  fine  reception  parlor  and  after  a  time  the  lady 
of  the  house  came  in  and  was  introduced  to  Lotty  as  "Auntie." 

Supper  was  served  in  a  private  room,  and  one  thing  that 
Lotty  thought  strange  was  that  they  were  served  alone,  but  she 
supposed  that  Mr.  M.'s  aunty  must  have  eaten  before. 
After  a  while  wine  was  brought  on  the  table  and  Mr.  M.  poured 
out  a  glass  for  each.  Lotty  refused  and  said  she  had  never 
drunk  wine.  To  this  Mr.  M.  said  it  was  time  she  learned  and 
laughingly  told  her  that  she  must  take  it  for  his  sake,  which 
she  did.  Soon  he  insisted  on  her  taking  another  glass.  Lotty 
was  helpless  in  a  short  time  and  knew  nothing  until  the  next 
morning  when  she  found  herself  in  bed  in  a  beautiful  room. 
She  could  hardly  realize  what  had  happened  for  a  time  but 
when  she  did  she  wept  and  sobbed,  saying:  "Oh,  Mr.  M.,  what 
have  you  done?  How  did  I  come  here?' 

He  told  her  not  to  act  like  a  baby  but  to  be  a  real,  little  wo- 
man. She  need  not  cry.  She  was  to  stay  there  in  that  house 
and  he  was  going  to  come  and  see  her  real  often.  She  would 
have  nice  clothes  to  wear  and  live  in  ease.  But  Lotty  could  not 
be  comforted,  and  Mr.  M.  left  her  telling  her  she  better  be  sen- 


THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS  327 

sible  as  she  would  be  "much  better  off  there  than  in  the  factory 
with  those  cheap  people. " 

She  lay  with  her  face  buried  in  the  pillow  for  some  time. 
She  remembered  that  she  had  learned  to  pray  long  ago  and  for 
the  first  in  a  long  time  she  poured  her  broken  heart  out  in 
prayer,  and  sought  forgiveness  and  help.  She  made  up  her 
mind  that  she  must  get  away  from  there,  and  was  dressing  when 
the  "  Auntie "  came  in  and  told  her  that  she  had  better  rest. 
Said  she  would  bring  her  some  better  clothes.  But  Lotty,  weep- 
ing and  ashamed,  begged  to  be  let  alone  and  allowed  to  go,  and 
said  she  just  wanted  her  own  clothes. 

The  woman  told  her  not  to  be  foolish  for  she  could  not  go 
out  of  that  house.  She  belonged  there.  That  Mr.  M.  had  paid 
for  her  board  and  she,  the  woman,  was  responsible  for  her.  So 
she  could  not  let  her  go.  She  told  Lotty  she  ought  to  be  proud 
and  thankful  that  so  fine  a  man  had  taken  a  fancy  to  her.  That 
if  she  would  act  all  right  she  would  lack  nothing. 

Lotty  had  learned  to  keep  silent.  And  when  the  woman  saw 
Lotty  had  nothing  to  say,  she  said : 

"There  now,  I  knew  you  would  be  sensible.  I  told  Mr.  M. 
so,"  and  left  her. 

Lotty  lay  down  in  weakness  and  grief,  and  understood  fully 
that  if  she  ever  left  that  house  she  would  have  to  steal  away.  As 
she  knew  nothing  of  the  place  she  felt  she  must  wait  her  time, 
which  she  did.  She  did  not  have  to  wait  long,  however,  she  was 
so  on  the  alert  and  felt  that  she  must  leave  that  night.  That  same 
evening  she  wag  given  some  fine  clothes  and  dressed  by  a  maid, 
as  they  were  to  have  company. 

That  night,  wearing  a  long  cloak,  which  she  found  in  the  hall, 
she  made  her  escape. 

She  walked  three  miles  before  she  reached  the  city  and  then 
she  came  to  our  home  for  women  and  girls  and  asked  for  shelter. 
She  was  ill  for  some  time  and  her  case  was  taken  up  by  the 
W.  C.  T.  IT.  of  that  city.  By  means  of  a  handkerchief,  bearing 
his  name,  which  the  man  left  in  the  bed,  and  which  Lotty  had 


328  THE  DEVIL'S  SIAMESE  TWINS 

hidden  away  to  prove  her  purity,  we  were  able  to  make  a  plain 
case. 

The  man  was  sued  for  $10,000.  His  father  was  his  bondsman 
and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  he  ran  away  and  no  trace  of  him 
could  be  found.  Repeated  efforts  were  made  to  abduct  Lotty 
so  as  to  prevent  her  from  appearing  in  court  as  a  witness. 

Lotty  gave  birth  to  a  child  before  the  year  was  up  and  in 
less  than  three  months  died  on  the  operating  table.  The  young 
man's  mother  adopted  the  baby. 

Thus  ended  the  life  of  orphan  Lotty.  Ignorance,  vanity  and 
flattery,  wine  and  a  wicked  man  were  the  destruction  of  her 
young  life. 

In  the  Judgment  Day  when  these  two  are  called  before  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth,  who  will  be  held  responsible  for  the 
young  life  so  ruthlessly  sacrificed,  and  the  little  new-born  babe 
left  without  the  right  of  father  or  mother? 

Shall  we  who  know  of  such  crimes  be  silent?  Would  not  the 
very  stones  cry  out  if  we  were ;  and  would  not  the  poor  deluded 
and  vain  unfortunate  girls  stand  before  us  in  the  Judgment  and 
condemn  us? 

God,  give  us  grace  to  do  thy  will. 
And  wisdom  too,  we  pray 
That  we  may  lift  the  erring  ones, 
Into  the  blood- washed  way — 
To  Christ,  the  Truth,  the  Way. 

Alice  Phillips  Aldrich. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW. 

Short  articles  on  White  Slavery  by  those  who  have  investigated  and  know 
the  conditions  as  they  exist,  including  Professor  Jeremiah  W.  Jenks, 
Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  G.  Stanley  Hall,  President  Clark  Uni- 
versity, Worcester,  Mass.,  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary,  Minneapolis,  Minn., 
St.  Clair  Adams,  New  Orleans,  La.,  Leonard  A.  Watson,  Cincinnatti,  0., 
Emma  F.  A.  Drake,  M.  D.,  Denver,  Colo. 

By  Jeremiah  W.  Jenks,  Professor  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  New  York, 
Member  the  Immigration  Commission,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  investigations  of  the  United  States  Immigration  Com- 
mission and  the  very  successful  prosecution  taken  up  and  car- 
ried through  in  Chicago  and  elsewhere,  for  the  last  two  or 
three  years,  have  proved  beyond  question  that  a  traffic  in  white 
slaves  exists,  and  also  that  effective  headway  toward  its  suppres- 
sion can  be  made. 

This  traffic  has  been  carried  on  for  a  good  many  years  with 
immigrant  girls,  and,  to  a  much  greater  extent,  with  American 
girls,  especially  those  found  in  country  villages  and  the  smaller 
cities  who  are  brought  to  the  great  cities.  From  the  very  nature 
of  the  cases,  they  have  been  very  difficult  to  discover.  Every- 
one connected  with  the  business,  including  even  the  victims  them- 
selves, naturally  do  their  best  to  keep  everything  connected 
therewith  in  the  utmost  secrecy. 

Moreover,  until  the  last  year  or  two  the  laws,  both  federal 
and  state,  have  been  extremely  defective.  At  the  present  time, 
however,  under  the  law  of  Illinois  and  similar  laws  in  other 
states,  and  under  the  new  federal  act  passed  last  spring,  it  is 
much  more  easily  possible  to  secure  convictions  and  the  punish- 
ment of  those  making  this  traffic  their  source  of  profit.  The 
success  of  many  late  prosecutions  in  various  sections  of  the 
country  prove  this  beyond  dispute.  What  seems  to  be  needed 

329 


330  ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW 

now  above  all  else  is  an  enlightened  public  opinion,  and  a  greater 
readiness  to  see  and  recognize  the  facts  relating  to  this  traffic 
as  those  which  may  be  taken  up  and  considered  by  moral,  sensi- 
ble people.  In  this  way  it  becomes  far  easier  to  see  and  secure 
evidence  than  has  been  the  case  heretofore,  and  with  public 
opinion  aroused,  convictions  can  be  more  readily  assured.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  thus  in  no  long  time  the  worst  evils 
of  this  infamous  traffic  will  be  largely  suppressed. 

By  G.  Stanley  Hall,  President,  Clark  University,  Worcester,  Mass. 
Author  of  Adolescence,  Educational  Problems,  Youth,  Aspects  of  Child  Life  and 

Education,  Etc. 

The  white  slave  traffic  is  one  of  the  most  tragic  and  barbarous 
aspects  of  our  civilization  which  it  has  long  besmirched.  I  am 
in  hearty  sympathy  with  every  righteous  and  judicious  mode  of 
suppressing  it,  and  such  a  campaign  cannot  be  carried  on  with- 
out work  that  is  not  only  hard  but  in  its  details  very  repulsive 
to  decent  people.  The  suspicions  that  attach  to  pure  young 
men  and  even  the  few  earnest  Christian  women  graduates  who 
lately  sought  to  investigate  with  a  view  to  suppression  of  the 
social  evil  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  state  of  things  and  one' 
of  the  chief  obstacles  in  really  getting  at  the  facts.  I  have  no 
sympathy  with  the  kid  glove  method  of  handling  these  questions. 

By  the  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary,  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Incarnation, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

"Vice  conditions  in  Minneapolis, "  do  not  differ  materially, 
I  fancy,  from  conditions  in  many  other  rapidly-growing  cities. 
The  "Social  Evil"  has  been  a  much  agitated  problem  in  Min- 
neapolis from  its  earliest  history.  When  Minneapolis  began  to 
assume  metropolitan  proportions,  some  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  ago,  its  municipal  authorities  tried  various  methods  of 
controlling  and  regulating  the  social  evil.  Like  many  other 
western  towns,  vice  conditions  were  under  somewhat  lax  control 
in  the  pioneer  days.  When  Minneapolis  had  a  population  of 
about  sixty  thousand,  saloons  were  wide  open,  social  vice  was 


ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW  331 

almost  unmolested,  houses  of  ill-fame  were  permitted  to  flourish, 
everybody  was  so  busy  pushing  the  growth  of  the  city  onward, 
that  much  attention  was  not  given  to  the  checking  of  the  social 
evil.  Social  vice  was  soon,  "segregated"  however,  well  known 
public  houses  of  ill  repute  were  unmolested,  and  a  vicious  system 
of  monthly  fines  for  the  keepers  and  the  inmates,  was.  recognized 
as  a  proper  check  to  the  evil.  About  fifteen  years  ago,  when  the 
city  had  taken  on  a- population  of  close  to  two  hundred  thousand, 
the  fine  system  was  abandoned,  certain  districts  were  relieved 
of  sporting  houses  and  an  alleged  segregated  district  was  es- 
tablished. The  dreadful  evil,  however,  was  by  no  means  seg- 
regated, as  it  never  has  been,  in  any;  city,  and  conditions  became 
most  unsatisfactory. 

Citizens-  interested  in  business  property,  and  otherwise,  in  the 
alleged  segregated  district,  began  a  vigorous  agitation  for  relief 
from  the  local  disgrace  attached  to  their  part  of  the  city,  and 
strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  suppress  the  flagrant  evil.  The 
situation  of  the  city,  however,  in*  such  close  proximity  to  St. 
Paul,  has  complicated  the  problem'  at  all  times.  At  the  present 
time,  a  strong  sentiment  pervades  both,  cities  that  they  must 
work  in  unison  in  order  to  secure  satisfactory  results  for  both 
cities.  About  three  months  ago  the  mayor  of  Minneapolis  ap- 
pointed a  "Vice  Commission"  of  fifteen,  thirteen  of  whom  are 
men,  and  two  women,  to  study  vice  conditions  and  report  the  re- 
sult to  the  mayor  and  common  council.  The  report  of  this  vice 
commision  has  not  yet  been  made  public.  What  the  findings 
of  this  commission'  may  be,  cannot,  as  yet,  be  known.  The 
commission-  is  waiting  for-  reports  from  similar  commissions  in 
other  cities,  and  making  a  very  careful  and  intelligent  study  of 
the  vexing  problem.  In  the  meantime,  a  policy  of  strict  sup- 
pression of  the  social  evil  is  being  pursued.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  this  policy  of  suppression  is  not:  having  a  fair  test,  as  all 
realize  that  the  situation  is-  practically  tentative,  both  those  in 
favor  of  and  those  hostile'  to  a  policy  of  absolute  suppression, 
are  waiting  for  the  final  report  of  the  vice  commission.  Even 
if  this  policy  of  suppression  were  regarded  as  permanent,  suf- 


332  ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW 

ficient  time  has  not  yet  elapsed  for  giving  it  a  fair  trial.  Re- 
forms of  this  kind  necessarily  move  slowly,  many  circumstances 
contribute  to  weaken  their  force,  and  patient  firmness  is  needed 
to  bring  about  lasting  results.  All  students  of  social  problems 
understand  that  constant,  unremitting  vigilance  and  tireless 
activity  are  necessary  in  order  to  check  the  vicious  zeal  of  those 
interested  in  protecting  vice.  In  my  judgment,  the  problem 
of  dealing  with  the  greedy  owners  of  property,  who  harvest 
a  putrid  crop  of  exorbitant  rentals  from  property  devoted  to 
lubricity,  is  the  most  difficult  of  all  the  problems  that  perplex 
the  social  reformer. 

Although  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  state  what  the  prevailing  sen- 
timent of  the  members  of  the  vice  commission  is,  regarding  the 
question  of  segregation,  as  it  is  called,  I  feel  quite  free  to  state 
that  the  judgment  of  the  vast  majority  of  all  good  citizens,  who 
have  given  intelligent  thought  to  this  grave  matter,  is  that 
segregation  has  been  a  dismal  failure  in  Minneapolis,  as  I  be- 
lieve it  has  been  everywhere.  The  opinion  of  those  who  have 
not  given  to  the  subject  very  special  attention,  is  of  no  value 
whatsoever.  The  opinion  of  those  who  are  influenced  by  long 
standing  traditions,  no  matter  how  sincere  and  disinterested, 
is  of  very  little  value,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  prejudiced,  formed 
without  any  real  investigation  of  facts,  and  not  guided  by  an  in- 
telligent understanding  of  human  nature. 

The  depraved  passions  of  men  and  women  are  not  cured  nor 
corrected  by  indulgence,  but  they  may  be  controlled  if  left  with- 
out hope  of  indulgence.  Suppression  is  the  only  sane  and  safe 
method  of  correcting  the  depraved  passions  of  the  human  heart. 
The  vice  of  licentiousness  must  be  left  without  hope.  It  must 
be  hunted  and  branded  as  a  detestable  evil.  Next  to  the  healing 
and  elevating  influence  of  religion,  that  enlightens  the  mind  and 
molds  the  human  conscience,  the  influence  of  public  opinion 
against  this  shocking  vice,  is  the  most  potent  deterrent  in  hu- 
man society.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  a  powerful  public  opinion 
against  social  vice  in  Minneapolis  is  producing  excellent  results. 
The  system  of  segregaton  seems  to  sanction  the  existence  of  the 


ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW  333 

evil,  engenders  lax  notions  of  virtue  among  both  young  and  old, 
and  blurs  the  moral  vision.  It  is  puerile  and  frivolous  to  claim 
that  if  the  vicious  element  in  the  city  be  forced  to  abandon  their 
public  profession  and  practice  of  vice,  they  will  suffer  great 
hardships,  for  what  can  they  do  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood! 
They  are  free  to  do  what  other  upright  and  honest  people  must 
do,  engage  in  honest  occupation,  enter  an  honest  employment, 
conduct  themselves  decently,  as  all  honest  people  should.  Vice 
has  no  right  to  respect  or  protection  in  any  community.  Min- 
neapolis, I  feel  confident,  will  do  its  full  duty  in  making  it  diffi- 
cult for  vice  to  flourish  in  our  fair  city. 

By  St.  Clair  Adams,  District  Attorney,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana. 

In  New  Orleans  while  prostitution  is  not  legally  recognized 
as  a  legitimate  occupation,  nevertheless,  the  City,  by  ordinance 
has  set  aside  a  district  within  which  such  avocations  are  toler- 
ated. This  district  is  policed  and  a  serious  effort  is  presently 
being  made  to  confine  these  unfortunate  women  within  the  speci- 
fied boundaries  of  the  district.  The  women  that  are  usually 
found  there  are  those  who  have  naturally  drifted  into  prostitu- 
tion and  the  houses  and  cribs  are  certainly  not  supplied  by  an 
organized  traffic  in  women. 

The  white  slave  evil,  existing  in  New  Orleans  with  reference 
to  this  prescribed  district,  results  from  these  women  voluntarily 
permitting  men  to  live  off  of  their  earnings  from  prostitution. 
It  has  always  been  my  belief  that  the  women  submit  to  this  ne- 
farious custom  in  order  to  have  some  men  who  will  associate 
with  them  on  terms  of  equality,  i.  e.,  accompany  them  to  the 
theatre  and  other  places  of  public  resort. 

Unless  the  woman,  through  jealousy  or  spite,  is  turned  against 
her  companion,  it  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  evidence  that  is  suf- 
ficient to  convict  in  this  class  of  cases.  The  professional  pan- 
der, who  inveigles  women  into  prostitution,  or  who  bring  wo- 
men into  the  State  from  elsewhere,  for  such  purpose,  is  prac- 
tically an  unknown  quantity  here.  There  have  been  such  cases, 
however,  of  women  panders,  who  have  recruited  in  the  City  of 


334  ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW 

Orleans  and  sent  the  women  either  to  Havana,  Cuba,  or  to  Pan- 
ama. We  have  had  two  cases  of  this  character  in  the  last  six 
months,  and  the  Federal  authorities  have  vigorously  prosecuted 
them  under  the  national  law  upon  the  subject. 

Up  to  last  August  there  were  practically  no  laws  upon  the 
statute  book  in  Louisiana  directed  against  any  phase  of  the 
white  slave  traffic.  During  the  month  of  March,  1910,  Mr.  Clif- 
ford G.  Eoe  of  Chicago,  delivered  a  lecture  in  New  Orleans 
and  while  here  submitted  to  me  the  white  slave  laws  which  were 
subsequently  passed  at  my  instance  and  with  the  assistance  of 
the  Era  Club,  a  public  spirited  woman's  organization,  in  July, 
1910,  by  the  Louisiana  Legislature.  These  laws  are  now  Acts 
Nos.  167,  287,  295  and  307  of  1910,  and  cover  every  case  that  can 
arise  out  of  this  nefarious  and  abominable  practice.  Since 
they  have  gone  into  effect  there  have  been  five  prosecutions  in 
the  City  of  New  Orleans,  four  of  which  were  successful,  as  fol- 
lows : 

1. — No.  38,218,  Pascal  Lamarque,  living  off  the  earnings  of  a 
prostitute,  Oct.  14,  1910,  6  months  in  the  Parish  Prison. 

2. — No.  38,229,  Percival  Seeley,  living  off  the  earnings  of  a 
prostitute,  Nov.  2, 1910,  6  months  in  the  Parish  Prison. 

3. — No.  38,409,  James  Eogers,  living  off  the  earnings  of  a 
prostitute,  not  guilty. 

4. — No.  38,579,  Ogglesby  Allen,  living  off  the  earnings  of  a 
prostitute,  Feb.  10,  1911,  one  year  in  the  Penitentiary. 

5. — No.  38,691,  Millard  W.  Scroggins,  pandering,  guilty  on 
two  counts,  March  1,  1911,  four  years  in  the  Penitentiary. 

The  last  is  the  only  real  case  of  pandering  that  has  developed 
since  the  enactment  of  our  new  standard  white  slave  laws.  My 
office  proposes  to  prosecute  all  cases  under  these  statutes  as  vig- 
orously as  it  is  possible  to  do,  and  while  we  have  not  had  many 
cases  as  yet,  my  office  has  been  uniformly  successful  in  pressing 
these  to  conviction. 

The  most  notorious  character  in  the  New  Orleans  restricted 
district,  one  Sam  Felix,  who,  if  any  one  here  is  engaged  in  ac- 
tively bringing  women  into  the  State  is,  we  succeeded  in  con- 


ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW  335 

victing  on  Jan.  15th,  1911,  of  assault  and  battery  upon  a  woman 
of  the  underworld,  and  he  is  presently  in  the  Parish  Prison  for 
six  months.  Heretofore  the  authorities  have  been  unable  to 
convict  him.  The  elimination  of  the  business  of  prostitution 
from  our  civilization,  is,  in  the  light  of  history,  impossible,  but  it 
is  possible  and  practicable  to  destroy  and  remove  from  our 
midst  that  unclean  and  noisome  thing  called  pimp  and  pander. 

Leonard  A.  Watson,  Sec'y  Cincinnati  Vigilance  Society. 

When  Detective  Sergeant  Bowler  of  Chicago  was  in  Cincin- 
nati, early  in  the  month  of  February,  1911,  and  walking  through 
the  outskirts  of  the  "red  light "  district  with  me,  between  eight 
and  nine  o'clock  one  evening,  he  was  aghast  at  what  he  saw,  and 
stated  that  never  at  any  time,  would  such  things  have  been  tol- 
erated in  Chicago,  as  were  transpiring  openly  in  Cincinnati. 

This  was  but  another  way  of  saying,  what  we,  who  have  been 
waging  a  war  against  the  "white  slave "  traffic  and  its  kindred 
vices,  have  realized  for  a  long  time,  namely,  that  Cincinnati  is 
perhaps  the  most  depraved  city,  from  the  view  point  of  public 
immorality,  in  the  country ;  but  even  bad  as  it  was  when  brought 
to  the  attention  of  Sergeant  Bowler,  it  was  much  worse  when  the 
Cincinnati  Vigilance  Society  began  its  work  in  the  fall  of  1910. 

This  society  was  incorporated  on  the  28th  of  October,  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  began  the  herculean  work  of 
cleaning  up  Cincinnati,  in  regard  to  the  open  practice  of  the 
social  evil. 

For  many  years,  the  police  force  has  been  a  factor  in  the  pre- 
dominate political  organization  of  the  city,  and  a  system  of 
tolerance,  regarding  the  practice  of  vice,  and  an  alliance  be- 
tween the  ' l  organization, ' '  and  the  proprietors  of  the  gambling 
houses,  brothels,  and  other  evil  resorts,  resulted  in  a  condition 
of  affairs  that  was,  not  only  a  menace  to  civilization,  but  was 
sacrificing  hundreds  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  city  each  year. 

The  condition  can  be  better  understood,  when  I  state  that 
almost  without  exception,  the  business  men  to  whom  I  appealed 
for  aid,  were  afraid  to  give  me  any  assistance,  and  even  when 


336  ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW 

they  did  give  a  small  sum  toward  the  work,  it  was  under  the 
promise,  that  all  their  connection  with  the  society  should  be 
kept  absolutely  secret.  Bank  clerks,  and  employees  of  various 
corporations,  who  expressed  sympathy  with  the  work,  stated  that 
they  dare  not  become  connected  with  it  in  any  way,  because  they 
knew  that  if  it  were  found  out,  that  they  gave  even  slight  en- 
couragement to  the  work,  they  would  be  summarily  discharged 
from  their  positions.  The  vice-mayor,  the  director  of  public 
safety,  the  chief  of  police,  all  came  out  in  bitter  denunication  of 
the  society,  and  stated  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  "  white 
slavery"  being  carried  on  in  Cincinnati.  Even  ministers  of  the 
gospel  stated  that  " white  slave"  agitation  was  hysterical,  and 
that  really  it  was  very  wrong  to  agitate  the  matter,  as  it  would 
result  in  nothing  but  an  undesirable  publicity,  when  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  conditions  were  no  worse  in  Cincinnati  than  elsewhere. 
Many  business  men  actively  opposed  the  work  of  the  society, 
giving  various  reasons;  but  one  which  was  not  given  by  them 
appeared  in  the  printed  report  of  the  Quadrennial  Board  of  Ap- 
praisement, which  shows  that  almost  every  old  family  name  and 
the  name  of  almost  every  estate,  having  large  holdings  in  Cin- 
cinnati, appears  among  those  owning  property,  rented  for  im- 
moral purposes. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact,  that  it  has  been  almost  impossible 
to  get  anything  like  adequate  financial  support,  a  great  deal  has 
been  accomplished.  Thirty-two  girls  have  been  rescued  and 
sent  to  their  homes.  More  than  as  many  more  have  been  helped, 
and  either  placed  in  institutions  or  otherwise  aided,  with  a  view 
to  their  social  rehabilitation.  Seventeen  panderers  have  been 
arrested  and  a  number  of  them  tried. 

Frank  Miller,  who  placed  his  young  wife  in  a  house  of  pros- 
titution, was  sentenced  by  the  common  pleas  court,  to  one  year's 
imprisonment,  and  a  fine  of  $500. 

Jacob  Portney,  who  brought  a  girl  from  Chicago,  was  sen- 
tenced to  four  years  at  hard  labor,  in  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  and 
the  costs  of  prosecution. 

Emma  Harris,  who  for  twenty-three  years  has  kept  one  of 


HONORABLE   EDWIN   W.   SIMS. 

t'nitcd    States    District    Attorney,    Chicago.      A    valiant     fighter    againsf 

white  slavery. 


ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW  887 

the  largest  and  most  lavishly  equipped  houses  in  the  city,  which 
she  owns,  was  sentenced  to  four  years  at  hard  labor,  in  the  fed- 
eral penitentiary,  at  Leavenworth,  together  with  the  costs  of 
prosecution. 

Bessie  Green,  twenty-six  years  old,  who  for  several  years  had 
been  an  inmate  of  the  Harris  house,  and  who  acted  as  the  em- 
issary of  Emma  Harris  in,  bringing  two  girls  from  Charleston, 
W.  Va.,  was  sentenced  to  one  year  at  hard  labor  in  the  federal 
penitentiary  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  together  with  the  costs 
of  prosecution. 

Violet  Thomas,  who  was  guilty  of  a  technical  violation  of  the 
law,  was  sentenced  to  thirty  days'  imprisonment  in  the  county 
jail  of  Miami  County,  at  Troy,  Ohio. 

Delia  Bennett,  keeper  of  one  of  the  largest  houses  in  the  "red 
light "  district,  who  brought  two  girls  from  Chicago,  was  found 
guilty,  but  as  she  was  herself  the  victim  of  a  notorious  person, 
and  as  she  wished  to  leave  the  life  and  lead  a  life  of  respect- 
ability, the  officers  of  the  Society  plead  with  the  judge  for 
leniency  in  her  case,  and  she  was  let  off  with  a  sentence  of  eleven 
months  in  the  Troy  jail,  and  the  costs  of  the  prosecution. 

There  are  a  number  of  cases  in  which  the  prosecution  is  ready 
but  which  have  for  various  reasons,  been  adjourned  to  the  spring 
term  of  court. 

It  has  been  almost  impossible  to  do  anything  in  the  state 
courts  because  the  law  in  this  state,  through  the  interpolation 
in  each  section,  of  the  statute,  of  the  words  "against  her  will," 
has  rendered  farcical  the  prosecution  of  "white  slavers."  The 
Vigilance  Society,  however,  has  had  a  comeptent  law  introduced 
in  the  legislature,  and  hopes  before  this  is  published,  that  the 
law  will  be  effective. 

The  various  departments  of  the  government,  state,  county, 
and  city,  have  been  brought  into  active  co-operation  with  the  So- 
ciety, and  effective  work  has  been  accomplished,  looking  to  the 
cleaning  up  of  the  city. 

The  most  vicious  element  and  the  one  which  is,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  writer,  the  most  dangerous,  is  the  assignation  house, 

22 


338  ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW 

or  flat,  where  young  girls  can  be  taken.  These  places  are  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  lower  and  business  parts  of  the  city 
and  even  in  the  most  exclusive  residential  sections.  During  the 
last  two  weeks  of  February  a  large  number  of  these  places  in 
the  residential  districts,  many  of  which  had  existed  in  their  then 
locations,  for  from  ten  to  thirty  years,  were  through  the  efforts 
of  the  society,  compelled  by  the  authorities,  to  give  up  their  bus- 
iness. 

While  much  has  been  accomplished,  there  are  hundreds  of 
professional  panderers  living  in  Cincinnati,  and  carrying  on 
their  vile  trade,  but  until  we  get  an  adequate  statute,  they  are 
immune  from  prosecution. 

By  Emma  F.  A.  Drake,  M.  D.,  Denver,  Colo. 

In  considering  the  white  slave  traffic,  this  infamous  plot  upon 
civilization,  we  are  quite  apt  to  put  by  far  the  greater  emphasis 
on  one  side  of  it  and  one  side  alone,  and  that  the  shame  and  hurt 
to  the  daughters  of  the  world — but  I  am  convinced  that  to  drive 
it  out  most  speedily  and  most  effectively  we  must  put  the  greater 
stress  where  it  rightly  belongs  upon  the  demand  not  the  supply, 
which  makes  this  shameful  trade  possible. 

If  moral  criminals  were  branded  as  in  the  days  of  our  Puritan 
ancestors  and  all  were  compelled  to  wear  the  scarlet  letter  A, 
significant  of  their  lost  virtue,  five  times  as  many  of  the  sons  as 
of  the  daughters  of  the  land  would  wear  the  symbol  of  shame. 

The  greedy  pandering  reptiles,  who  for  money  furnish  to 
the  markets  the  deceived  and  stolen  victims  ply  their  trade  be- 
cause of  the  demand  for  it,  and  because  four  fifths  of  the  demand 
must  be  supplied  in  this  way. 

To  say  that  the  many  frequenters  of  these  houses  where  honor 
and  shame  are  lost  believe  that  the  inmates  are  there  because 
they  choose  to  be  only  proves  the  necessity  for  enlightening  the 
world  by  tracking  the  truth  concerning  this  horrible  evil  thing. 

No  amount  of  fine  talk,  no  amount  of  theorizing,  no  amount  of 
experiments  regulating  this  trade  in  vice  and  virtue  can  pre- 
vent the  sexes  from  rising  and  falling  together.  Only  when  we 


ARTICLES  BY  THOSE  WHO  KNOW  389 

have  a  nation  of  clean  pure  men  shall  we  have  a  country  of 
virtuous  women,  and  this  must  be  said  over  and  over  again 
until  it  is  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  adults  and  youth  alike. 
Right  here  must  the  emphasis  in  our  teaching  be  placed  and 
when  our  children  are  trained  in  the  fact  that  a  fall  from  virtue 
is  as  great  in  man  as  woman,  institutions  of  vice  will  not  be 
needed,  slave  traders  will  quit  the  business,  because  money  can 
no  longer  be  made  in  it — and  our  daughters  will  be  safe. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 

LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  AND  COURT  DECISIONS. 

Ammunition  for  Those  Fighting  the  White  Slave  Cases  in  Courts — Model  Laws  for 

Legislatures,  etc. 

To  the  layman  and  average  reader  this  chapter  may  seem  dull 
and  uninteresting,  yet  to  those  who  are  fighting  against  the 
traffic  in  girls,  especially  in  the  courts,  the  following  informa- 
tion will  undoubtedly  be  of  great  value. 

Illinois  was  the  first  of  the  United  States  to  pass  a  law  di- 
rected solely  against  the  white  slave  traders.  Inasmuch  as 
this  was  the  pioneer  state,  many  others  have  copied  the  law 
in  part  or  in  whole.  However,  in  most  instances  the  penalties 
have  been  raised.  The  penalty  in  the  Illinois  Pandering  Law 
is  far  too  light,  and  a  movement  is  now  on  foot  to  raise  the  pen- 
alty. In  other  respects  the  law  is  considered  first  class,  and 
has  been  sustained  by  four  decisions  of  the  State  Supreme 
Court.  As  was  seen  in  Chapter  twelve,  a  Joint  Club  Com- 
mittee was  formed  in  Chicago  during  the  month  of  March,  1908, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  adequate  laws  to  punish  the  white 
slave  traders.  After  deliberating  for  nearly  two  months  over 
various  proposed  bills  prepared  by  members  of  the  Committee, 
on  the  fourth  day  of  May  the  following  resolution  was  adopted 
by  the  Joint  Club  Committees : 

"WHEKEAS,  present  laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois  are  in- 
adequate to  punish  the  evil  known  as  the  white  slave  traffic 
which  has  grown  to  formidable  proportions  during  recent  years, 
and  it  is  the  desire  of  this  Joint  Committee  of  the  committees 
appointed  by  Union  League  Club,  Iroquois  Club,  City  Club, 
Hamilton  Club,  Press  Club,  Jefferson  Club,  Quadrangle  Club, 
Citizens  Association,  Chicago  Law  and  Order  League,  Society 

340 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  341 

of  B'nai  Brith,  and  Illinois  Vigilance  Association  to  encourage 
and  advocate  the  enactment  of  laws  which  shall  be  adequate  to 
cope  with  said  evil  and  that  therefore  be  it 

"RESOLVED  that  it  is  the  wish  of  this  Joint  Committee 
that  bills  for  acts  as  hereto  attached  and  made  a  part  of  these 
resolutions  be  known  as  those  endorsed  and  advocated  by  its 
members  and  this  Joint  Committee  hereby  does  endorse  and 
advocate  the  enactment  into  laws  these  bills  attached  hereto 
and  the  chairman  instructed  to  appoint  a  committee  to  urge 
members  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  to  adopt  these  bills  for  en- 
actment, with  emergency  clause  attached  to  each." 

The  bill  thus  endorsed  was  that  night  sent  to  the  Legislature 
at  Springfield  and  the  following  day,  May  fifth,  was  passed  by 
the  House  unanimously,  one  hundred  and  two  members  voting. 
The  Senate  concurred  and  sent  the  Act  to  the  Governor  who 
later  signed  it,  and  thus  the  first  pandering  law  became  effective 
on  July  first,  1908. 

The  following  spring  of  1909  it  was  decided  by  The  Joint  Club 
Committee  to  offer  some  amendments  to  the  law  to  make  it 
stronger. 

The  law  as  finally  amended  was  largely  the  work  of  Honor- 
able Harry  A.  Parkin,  Assistant  United  States  District  At- 
torney in  Chicago,  Professor  Ernst  Freund  of  the  University 
of  Chicago  Law  College,  Mr.  Robert  Catherwood,  Mr.  Henry 
P.  Heizer,  and  the  writer. 

The  amended  law  passed  by  the  Legislature  went  into  effect 
July  first,  1909. 

The  Illinois  Pandering  Law  now  reads  as  follows : 

1.  "Any  person  who  shall  procure  a  female  inmate  for  a 
house  of  prostitution  or  who,  by  promise,  threats,  violence,  or 
by  any  device  or  scheme,  shall  cause,  induce,  persuade  or  en- 
courage a  female  person  to  become  an  inmate  in  a  house  of 
prostitution,  or  shall  procure  a  place  as  inmate  in  a  house  of 
prostitution  for  a  female  person,  or  any  person  who  shall,  by 
promises,  threats,  violence,  or  by  any  devise  or  scheme,  cause, 
induce,  persuade  or  encourage  an  inmate  of  a  house  of  prostitu- 


342  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

tion  to  remain  therein  as  such  inmate,  or  any  person  who  shall 
by  fraud  or  artifice,  or  by  duress  of  person  or  goods,  or  by 
abuse  of  any  position  of  confidence  or  authority,  procure  any 
female  person  to  become  an  inmate  of  a  house  of  ill  fame,  or  to 
enter  any  place  in  which  prostitution  is  encouraged  or  allowed 
within  this  state,  or  to  come  into  this  state  or  to  leave  this 
state  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution,  or  who  shall  procure  any 
female  person  who  has  not  previously  practiced  prostitution  to 
become  an  inmate  of  a  house  of  ill  fame  within  this  state,  or 
to  come  into  this  state  or  to  leave  this  state  for  the  purpose  of 
prostitution,  or  who  shall  receive  or  give,  or  agree  to  receive 
or  give,  any  money  or  thing  of  value  for  procuring,  or  attempt- 
ing to  procure  any  female  person  to  become  an  inmate  of  a 
house  of  ill  fame  within  this  state,  or  to  come  into  this  state,  or 
to  leave  this  state  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution,  shall  be 
guilty  of  pandering,  and  upon  a  first  conviction  for  an  offense 
under  this  act  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in  the  county 
jail  or  house  of  correction  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  six 
months  nor  more  than  one  year,  and  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
three  hundred  dollars  and  not  to  exceed  one  thousand  dollars, 
and  for  conviction  for  any  subsequent  offense  under  this  act 
shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  per- 
iod of  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more  than  ten  years. 

2.  "It  shall  not  be  a  defense  to  a  prosecution  for  any  of  the 
acts  prohibited  in  the  foregoing  section  that  any  part  of  such 
act  or  acts  shall  have  been  committed  outside  this  state,  and  the 
offense  shall  in  such  case  be  deemed  and  alleged  to  have  been 
committed  and  the  offender  tried  and  punished  in  any  county  in 
which  the  prostitution  was  intended  to  be  practiced,  or  in  which 
the  offense  was  consummated,  or  any  overt  act  in  furtherance  of 
the  offense  shall  have  been  committed. 

3.  "Any  such  female  person  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  sec- 
tion shall  be  a  competent  witness  in  any  prosecution  under  this 
act  to  testify  for  or  against  the  accused  as  to  any  transaction 
or  as  to  any  conversation  with  the  accused  or  by  him  with  an- 
other person  or  persons  in  her  presence,  notwithstanding  her 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  343 

having  married  the  accused  before  or  after  the  violation  of  any 
of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  whether  called  as  a  witness  during 
the  existence  of  the  marriage  or  after  its  dissolution. 

4.  *  *  The  act  or  state  of  marriage  shall  not  be  a  defense  to  any 
violation  of  this  act." 

The  law  relating  to  the  retention  by  debt  or  otherwise  of  fe- 
males in  houses  of  prostitution  is  as  follows : 

'  '  Whoever  shall  by  any  means  keep,  hold  or  detain  against  her 
will  or  restrain  any  female  person  in  a  house  of  pros- 
titution or  other  place  where  prostitution  is  practiced  or  al- 
lowed, or  whoever  shall,  directly  or  indirectly,  keep,  hold,  detain 
or  restrain,  or  attempt  to  keep,  hold,  detain  or  restrain,  in  any 
house  of  prostitution  or  other  place  where  prostitution  is  prac- 
ticed or  allowed,  any  female  person,  by  any  means  for  the  pur- 
pose of  compelling  such  female  persons  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  pay,  liquidate,  or  cancel  any  debt,  dues  or  obligations  in- 
curred or  said  to  have  been  incurred  by  such  female  persons 
shall,  upon  conviction,  for  the  first  offense  under  this  act  be 
punished  by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  or  house  of  cor- 
rection for  a  period  of  not  less  than  six  months  nor  more  than 
one  year,  and  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  three  hundred  dollars  and 
not  to  exceed  one  thousand  dollars,  and  upon  a  conviction  for  any 
subsequent  offense  under  this  act  shall  be  punished  by  impris- 
onment in  the  penitentiary  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  one 
year  nor  more  than  five  years. " 

Since  this  law  was  passed  many  cases  have  been  tried  under 
it  in  Illinois.  One  of  the  first  was  that  of  Jacob  Jacobson.  In 
company  with  Louis  Brodsky,  a  confessed  pander,  he  pro- 
cured two  sixteen  year  old  girls  and  sold  them  to  Abe  Weinstein 
who  owned  a  resort  of  shame  in  South  Chicago.  The  writer 
prosecuted  Jacobson,  and  he  was  found  guilty  in  July.  Brod- 
sky entered  a  plea  of  guilty  in  August,  and  the  same  month  a 
jury  declared  Abe  Weinstein  guilty. 

Jacob  Jacobson  appealed  his  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Illinois  where  the  decision  of  the  lower  court  Was  affirmed. 


844  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

The  following  is  a  full  report  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  upon  the  case  : 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS,  DEFENDANT  IN  ERROR,   VS. 
JACOB  JACOBSON,  PLAINTIFF   IN  ERROR. 

Opinion  filed  December  21,  1910. 

1.  Constitutional  Law — power  of  legislature  where  constitution  confers  juris- 
diction on  certain  court.    The  jurisdiction  conferred  upon  any  court  by  the  consti- 
tution cannot  be  diminished  by  the  legislature,  but  in  the  absence  of  a  constitu- 
tional prohibition  the  legislature  may  confer  concurrent  jurisdiction  of  the  same 
subject  matter  upon  another  court. 

2.  Same — Section  2  of  Municipal  Court  act,  conferring  jurisdiction   in   crim- 
inal cases,  is  not  invalid.     Section  2  of  the  Municipal  Court  act,  in  so  far  as  it 
attempts   to   confer   upon   the   municipal    court   jurisdiction    in   criminal    cases    in 
which  the  punishment  is  by  fine  or  imprisonment  otherwise  than  in  the  peniten- 
tiary, is  not  in  violation  of  section  26  of  article  6  of  the  constitution,  conferring 
jurisdiction  of  cases  of  a  criminal  nature  in  Cook  County  upon  the  criminal  court, 
as  the  jurisdiction  so  conferred  is  not  exclusive.     (Berkowitz  y.  Lester,  121  111.  99, 
followed.) 

3.  Same — Constitution  does  not  give  an  appeal  to  criminal  court  in  all  crim- 
inal cases  in  Cook  County.     Section  26  of  article  6  of  the  constitution  does  not 
give  an  appeal  to  the  criminal  court  in  all  criminal  cases  in  Cook  County,  but 
provides  that  such  appeals  as  may  be  given  by  law  in  those  cases  shall  be  taken 
to  the  criminal  court,  and  such  appeals  are  tried  de  novo. 

4.  Same — When  constitutionality  of  a  statute  is  not  involved.     The  question 
whether  section  22  of  the  Municipal  Court  act,  so  far  as  it  provides  for  a  review 
by  the  Appellate  and  Supreme   Courts   of   judgments   of  the   municipal   court   in 
criminal  cases,  is  in  violation  of  section  26  of  article  6  of  the  constitution,  pro- 
viding that  appeals  in  criminal  cases  in  Cook  County  which  may  be  given  by  law 
shall  be  taken  to  the  criminal   court,   is  not  presented  for  consideration   in   the 
Supreme  Court  where  the  question  of  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  criminal  court 
was  not  presented  to  or  decided  by  the  municipal  court. 

5.  Criminal  Law — Section  9  of  bill  of  rights  contains  no  prohibition  against 
a  trial  of  several  offenses  at  one  time.    Section  9  of  the  bill  of  rights,  relating  to 
the  right  of  an  accused  person  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury 
of  the  county  where  the  offense  was  committed,  contains  no  prohibition  against 
the  trial,  at  one  time,  of  several  offenses  committed  in  the  county  where  the  trial 
is  had. 

6.  Same — when  question  whether  the  accused  had  a  right  to  be  tried  for  one 
offense  at  a  time  is  not  presented.     The  question  whether  one  charged  in  two  in- 
formations with  separate  violations  of  the  same  section  of  a  statute,  each  offense 
being  a  misdemeanor  of  the  same  grade  and  subjecting  the  offender  to  the  same 
punishment,  was  entitled  to  object,  on  other  than  constitutional  grounds,  to  go- 
ing to  trial  on  both  informations,  is  not  presented  in  the  Supreme  Court  where 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  345 

the  defendant  made  no  objection  to  going  to  trial  nor  any  motion  for  the  prose- 
cutor to  elect,  and  where  there  is  no  bill  of  exceptions  in  the  record  or  anything 
to  show  that  evidence  of  more  than  one  offense  was  heard. 

7.  Same — several  misdemeanors  of  the  same  nature  may  be  embraced  in  sep- 
arate counts  of  same  information.  It  is  no  objection  to  an  information  that  it 
charges,  in  separate  counts,  the  commission  of  several  misdemeanors  of  the  same 
nature;  and  the  joinder  of  several  misdemeanors  of  the  same  nature  will  not,  in 
general,  vitiate  in  any  stage  of  the  prosecution,  nor  does  the  practice  of  quashing 
the  information  or  calling  on  the  prosecutor  to  elect,  exist  in  such  cases. 
Writ  of  error  to  the  Municipal  Court  of  Chicago;  the  Hon.  Michael  P.  Girten, 

Judge,  presiding. 

Louis  Greenberg  and  Henry  A.  Berger,  for  plaintiff  in  error. 

W.  H.  Stead,  Attorney  General,  and  John  E.  W.  Wayman,  State's  Attorney, 
(Zach  Hofheimer,  of  counsel)  for  the  People. 

Mr.  Justice  Dunn  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court: 

An  information  was  filed  against  the  plaintiff  in  error  on  July  19,  1909,  in  the 
municipal  court  of  Chicago,  which  charged  him  with  persuading  a  female  (naming 
her)  to  enter  a  house  of  prostitution  for  the  purpose  of  practicing  prostitution. 
On  July  29  a  jury  was  sworn  to  try  the  issues;  leave  was  granted  to  file  an 
amended  information,  and  an  amended  information  was  filed  charging  that  the 
plaintiff  in  error  procured  the  person  named  in  the  first  count,  and  another  (nam- 
ing her),  as  female  inmates  of  another  house  of  prostitution.  On  July  30  the 
jury  empaneled  on  the  previous  day  was  discharged;  the  plaintiff  in  error  was 
arraigned  and  entered  a  plea  of  not  guilty  to  the  amended  information  and  was 
also  arraigned  and  entered  a  plea  of  not  guilty  to  the  original  information;  a 
jury  was  sworn  and  a  verdict  was  returned  finding  the  plaintiff  in  error  "guilty  in 
manner  and  form  as  charged  in  the  information  filed  herein,"  upon  which  he  was 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  in  the  house  of  correction  for  two  months  and  to  pay 
a  fine  of  $600  and  the  costs.  A  writ  of  error  was  sued  out  to  bring  the  record 
before  us  for  review. 

It  is  first  contended  that  section  2  of  the  Municipal  Court  act,  in  so  far  as  it 
attempts  to  confer  upon  the  municipal  court  jurisdiction  in  criminal  cases  in  which 
the  punishment  is  by  fine  or  imprisonment  otherwise  than  in  the  penitentiary,  is 
unconstitutional  because  under  section  26  of  article  6  of  the  constitution  the 
criminal  court  of  Cook  county  is  vested  with  jurisdiction  of  all  cases  of  a  crim- 
inal nature  arising  in  the  county  of  Cook.  It  was  held  in  the  case  of  Berkowitz 
v.  Lester,  121  111.,  99,  that  this  jurisdiction  was  not  exclusive,  even  though  the 
legislature,  by  section  2  of  division  10  of  the  Criminal  Code,  had  attempted  to 
make  it  so.  Section  12  of  article  6  of  the  constitution  confers  upon  the  circuit 
court  jurisdiction  of  all  causes  in  law  and  equity  in  language  as  broad  as  that 
which  in  section  26  confers  upon  the  criminal  court  of  Cook  County  jurisdiction 
in  all  cases  of  a  criminal  nature,  yet  in  Myers  v.  People,  67  111.  503,  we  held  that 
the  jurisdiction  conferred  on  the  circuit  court  by  section  12  was  not  exclusive, 
but  that  it  was  within  the  power  of  the  legislature  to  confer  upon  county  courts 
concurrent  jurisdiction  in  criminal  cases.  The  jurisdiction  conferred  upon  any 
court  by  the  constitution  cannot  be  diminished  by  the  legislature,  but  in  the 


346  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

absence  of  a  constitutional  prohibition  the  legislature  may  confer  concurrent 
jurisdiction  of  the  same  subject  matter  upon  another  court. 

It  is  next  insisted  that  section  22  of  the  Municipal  Court  act,  so  far  as  it  pro- 
vides for  the  review  upon  error  by  the  Appellate  and  Supreme  Courts  of  the 
judgments  of  the  municipal  court  of  Chicago  in  criminal  cases,  is  unconstitu- 
tional, because  section  26  of  article  6  of  the  constitution  provides  that  all  ap- 
peals in  criminal  cases  in  Cook  County  shall  be  taken  to  the  criminal  court  and 
for  this  reason  counsel  think  the  judgment  should  be  reversed  and  the  cause  re- 
manded to  the  municipal  court  with  directions  to  grant  the  plaintiff  in  error  an 
appeal  to  the  criminal  court.  The  constitutional  provision  does  not  give  an  ap- 
peal in  all  criminal  cases  in  Cook  County  to  the  criminal  court,  but  provides  that 
all  appeals  in  criminal  cases  in  Cook  County  which  may  be  given  by  law  shall 
be  taken  to  the  criminal  court.  The  appeals  referred  to  are  such  as  are  tried 
de  novo  in  the  appellate  tribunal.  No  appeal  is  authorized  by  law  in  any  criminal 
case  in  the  municipal  court.  The  plaintiff  in  error  did  not  request  in  the  munic- 
ipal court  an  appeal  to  the  criminal  court,  he  was  not  denied  such  appeal,  and 
the  question  of  his  right  to  such  appeal  was  neither  presented  to  nor  decided  by 
the  municipal  court.  This  assignment  of  error  presents  nothing  for  our  con- 
sideration, because  its  determination  would  not  affect  the  correctness  of  the  judg- 
ment below. 

It  is  finally  urged  that  the  plaintiff  was  tried  at  one  time  for  two  separate 
offenses,  and  that  this  was  in  violation  of  section  9  of  the  bill  of  rights,  which 
provides  that  persons  accused  of  crime  shall  have  the  right  to  a  speedy  public 
trial  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  county  or  district  in  which  the  offense  is  al- 
leged to  have  been  committed.  Counsel  argue  that  this  prohibits  a  trial  for  sev- 
eral offenses  at  one  time  though  all  were  committed  in  the  county  where  the 
trial  may  be  had.  There  is  no  such  prohibition  in  this  clause,  which  merely  de- 
termines the  place  of  the  trial.  Whether  the  defendant  might  have  objected  to 
going  to  trial  of  both  the  original  and  amended  information  on  other  than  con- 
stitutional grounds  is  not  presented  to  us  and  is  not  decided.  He  went  to  trial 
without  objection  and  made  no  motion  at  any  time  to  require  the  prosecutor  to 
elect.  There  is  no  bill  of  exceptions  in  the  record,  and  so  far  as  appears  no  evi- 
dence of  more  than  one  offense  was  heard.  Each  information  charged  a  violation 
of  the  same  section  of  the  statute,  which  was  a  misdemeanor.  Each  offense  was 
of  the  same  grade  and  subjected  the  offender  to  the  same  punishment.  The 
charge  of  two  different  misdemeanors  of  the  same  nature  may  be  embraced  in 
separate  counts  of  the  same  information.  In  the  case  of  misdemeanors  the  joinder 
of  several  offenses  of  the  same  character  will  not,  in  general,  vitiate  in  any  stage 
of  the  prosecution.  In  such  cases  the  practice  of  quashing  the  indictment  or  in- 
formation or  calling  on  the  prosecutor  to  elect  on  which  charge  he  will  proceed, 
does  not  exist.  1  Chitty  on  Grim.  Law,  254. 

The  judgment  of  the  Municipal  Court  is  affirmed. 

Judgment  Affirmed. 

Other  cases  which  were  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illi- 
nois, and  were  sustained  and  the  decisions  of  the  lower  court  af- 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  347 

finned,  were  those  of  Thomas  Braun,  mentioned  by  William 
Simes  in  Chapter  five,  and  Maurice  and  Julia  Van  Bever  with 
which  chapters  seven,  eight  and  nine  deal.  These  cases  may 
be  found  in  the  Illinois  State  Reports  as  follows: 

The  People  vs  Thomas  Braun,  111.  Rep.  Vol.  246,  Page  428. 

The  People  vs  Maurice  Van  Bever,  111.  Rep.  Vol.  248,  Page  136. 

The  People  vs  Julia  Van  Bever,  111.  Rep.  Vol.  248,  Page  136. 

A  most  important  decision  was  rendered  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  Appellate  Division  of  New  York  in  the  case  of  Belle 
Moore  who  was  sentenced  May  twenty-sixth,  1910,  by  Judge 
Crain,  in  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  for  not  less  than  two 
and  one  half  years  nor  more  than  five  years. 

During  the  trial  George  A.  Miller,  a  detective,  testified  that 
he  visited  Belle  Moore 's  place  in  West  Forty-first  Street,  New 
York,  and  made  arrangements  to  purchase  two  girls  eighteen 
years  of  age. 

Miller  was  employed  February  23,  1910,  by  the  District  At- 
torney to  obtain  evidence  of  the  white  slave  traffic.  Honorable 
James  Bronson  Reynolds  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  investi- 
gation. Two  women  retained  to  assist  Miller  were  Mrs.  Foster 
on  March  second,  and  Amy  Jackson  on  April  third,  1910.  Mrs. 
Foster  was  a  graduate  of  Radcliffe  College,  an  annex  of  Har- 
vard University. 

The  evidence  in  court  showed  that  Belle  Moore  first  procured 
little  Alice,  and  then  said  Alice  had  an  attractive  young  girl 
friend  whom  she  could  get.  Miller  and  Amy  Jackson  saw  this 
friend  the  next  night. 

"How  much  do  you  want  for  your  work?"  asked  Miller  of 
Belle  Moore. 

"Well,  I  worked  hard  to  get  the  right  ones  and  I  think  I 
ought  to  have  seventy-five  dollars  each." 

With  the  aid  of  Amy  Jackson's  bank  roll  Miller  produced 
Ninety  Dollars,  which,  he  said  in  court,  he  gave  to  the  Moore 
woman,  promising  to  send  the  remaining  sixty  dollars  to  her 
at  the  general  delivery  by  registered  mail. 

Miller  said  that  Belle  Moore  warned  him  and  Amy  Jackson 


348  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

and  the  girls  to  leave  the  house  quietly  and  separately,  as  the 
janitor  was  "wise"  to  the  fact  that  something  wrong  was  go- 
ing on  and  had  to  be  bribed  with  a  five-dollar  tip. 

The  four  persons  went  in  a  taxicab  to  a  house  in  West  Six- 
tieth Street. 

The  arrest  of  Belle  Moore  was  the  result  of  a  plan  arranged 
by  District  Attorney  Whitman  and  Assistant  District  Attorney 
Eeynolds,  a  former  government  investigator,  to  get  convictions 
against  " white  slave''  traders  by  having  Miller  and  two  wo- 
men college  graduates  hunt  out  such  persons  and  buy  girls 
from  them. 

The  college  women  went  to  Atlantic  City  and  stayed  there 
while  Miller  went  among  the  traders  and  represented  himself 
to  be  an  agent  for  women  who  were  buying  girls  to  take  to 
Seattle. 

After  the  conviction  the  case  was  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  here  follows  in  full  the  decision  of  the  Appellate 
Division  of  the  Supreme  Court  which  affirmed  the  decision  be- 
low: 

SUPREME  COURT,  APPELLATE  DIVISION. 
First  Department,  January,  1911. 

George  L.  Ingraham,  P.  J.,  Frank  C.  Laughlin,  John  Proctor  Clarke,  Francis  M. 
Scott,  Nathan  L.  Miller,  JJ. 

People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Plaintiff-respondent,  vs.  Belle  Moore,  Defendant- 
appellant.     No.  1103. 

Appeal  from  a  judgment  of  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  convicting  the  de- 
fendant of  a  violation  of  section  2460  of  the  Penal  Law. 

CLARKE,  J. : — The  defendant  was  convicted  upon  an  indictment  charging  her 
with  the  crime  of  knowingly  receiving  money  for  and  on  account  of  procuring 
and  placing  women  in  the  custody  of  another  person  for  immoral  purposes. 

We  have  carefully  examined  the  evidence  in  this  case  and  find  that  the  verdict 
of  the  jury  was  abundantly  supported  thereby.  The  only  questions  we  deem  it 
necessary  to  consider  are  as  follows:  1.  Section  2460  of  the  Penal  Law  as  it 
existed  at  the  time  of  the  acts  complained  of,  is  entitled  "Compulsory  prostitution 
of  women"  and  provided  in  Subdivision  4  thereof  that  "Every  person  who  shall 
knowingly  receive  any  money  or  other  valuable  thing  for,  or  on  account  of  pro- 
curing and  placing  in  the  custody  of  another  person  for  immoral  purposes,  any 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  349 

woman  with  or  without  her  consent,  is  punishable  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding 
five  years  and  a  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000." 

It  is  conceded  that  a  trap  was  laid  for  the  defendant  and  that  although  she 
knowingly  received  a  sum  of  money  on  account  of  procuring  and  placing  in  the 
custody  of  the  principal  witness  for  the  People  two  women,  with  their  consent, 
for  immoral  purposes,  the  appellant  claims  as  that  person  did  not  intend  to  make 
use  of  them  for  immoral  purposes  and  did  not,  as  a  fact,  so  make  use  of  them, 
that  the  crime  defined  by  the  statute  was  legally  impossible  of  accomplishment 
and  that  therefore  no  crime  had  been  committed. 

The  contention  is  based  on  People  v.  Jaffe,  185  N.  Y.,  497  and  People  v.  Teal, 
196  N.  Y.,  372.  In  the  Jaffe  case  the  defendant  had  been  convicted  of  an  attempt 
to  commit  the  crime  defined  by  section  550  of  the  Penal  Code,  which  provides 
that  "a  person  who  buys  or  receives  any  stolen  property,  knowing  the  same  to 
have  been  stolen,  is  guilty  of  criminally  receiving  such  property."  The  Court  of 
Appeals  held  that  as  the  property  prior  to  its  purchase  by  the  defendant  had 
lost  its  character  as  stolen  property  by  having  been  retaken  into  the  possession 
of  the  owner,  the  conviction  was  not  warranted.  The  court  said:  "The  crime 
of  which  the  defendant  was  convicted  necessarily  consists  of  three  elements; 
first,  the  act;  second,  the  intent;  and  third,  the  knowledge  of  an  existing  condi- 
tion. There  was  proof  tending  to  establish  two  of  these  elements,  the  first  and 
second,  but  none  to  establish  the  third.  This  was  knowledge  of  the  stolen  char- 
acter of  the  property  sought  to  be  acquired.  There  could  be  no  such  knowledge 
The  defendant  could  not  know  that  the  property  possessed  the  character  of  stolen 
property  when  it  had  not  in  fact  been  acquired  by  theft." 

In  the  Teal  case,  the  defendant  had  been  convicted  of  the  crime  of  attempted 
subornation  of  perjury.  The  court  stated  the  question  presented  as  follows:  "Can 
a  person  be  convicted  of  attempted  subornation  of  perjury  upon  evidence  which 
would  not  support  a  conviction  upon  the  charge  of  perjury,  if  the  attempt  had 
been  successful?"  And  held  that  under  the  language  of  the  statute  (96  Penal 
Code),  "a  person  who  wilfully  and  knowingly  testifies  falsely  in  any  material  mat- 
ter is  guilty  of  perjury,"  as  the  facts  in  regard  to  which  the  defendant  attempted 
to  suborn  a  person  to  make  a  false  affidavit  were  not  material  to  the  issues  pre- 
sented in  the  action  by  the  pleadings  as  they  were  at  the  time  the  false  affidavit 
was  attempted  to  be  procured,  there  could  have  been  no  conviction  of  perjury  of 
the  person  making  such  affidavit  and  therefore  the  facts  did  not  sustain  a  con- 
viction of  an  attempt  to  suborn. 

In  each  of  those  cases  a  peculiar  statute  was  under  consideration,  and  the 
decisions  are  not  to  be  extended  where  the  reason  therefor  does  not  exist.  In 
the  Jaffe  case  the  court  said:  "The  crucial  distinction  in  the  case  before  us  and 
the  pickpocket  cases  and  others  involving  the  same  principle,  lies  not  in  the  pos- 
sibility or  impossibility  of  the  commission  of  the  crime,  but  in  the  fact  that  in 
the  present  case  the  act  which  it  was  doubtless  the  intent  of  the  defendant  to 
commit  would  not  have  been  a  crime  if  it  had  been  consummated."  And  in  the 
Teal  case,  after  referring  to  People  v.  Moran,  123  N.  Y.,  254,  and  People  v.  Gard- 
ner, 144  N.  Y.,  119,  the  court  said:  "It  is  said  that  they  are  authorities  for  the 

J__A_:_~       iV.~*        *U~       mi«k«4-:n.»       nrVmtKnv       a       njM>n/>T»      Vina       mnAn      n  n       n  4-  *  nw>**4-       4- A      «  ,»»,:*        . 


350  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

crime  depends  upon  the  mind  and  intent  of  the  actor  and  not  upon  the  result 
of  the  attempt.  That  is  quite  true  as  regards  the  crimes  of  larceny  and  extortion 
which  were  the  subject  of  discussion  in  those  cases,  and  it  may  be  true  in  many 
other  instances,  where  the  law  looks  only  to  the  intent  without  reference  to  re- 
sult, but  a  different  rule  has  been  established  as  to  the  crime  of  perjury.  The 
statute  declares  that  materiality  of  the  testimony  is  of  the  essence  of  the  crime. 
Without  it  the  crime  cannot  be  committed,  no  matter  what  the  intent  may  be." 

The  statute  under  consideration  limits  the  word  "knowingly"  ,to  the  receipt 
of  the  money,  to  the  procuring,  and  to  the  immoral  purposes  for  which  the  wom- 
an was  procured;  in  other  words,  to  the  intent  and  the  acts  and  the  purposes  of 
the  defendant.  She  knowingly  received  the  money;  and  she  knowingly  pro- 
cured the  women;  and  she  intended  to  and  did  deliver  them  for  immoral  pur- 
poses, with  their  consent.  So  far  as  the  defendant  was  concerned,  her  act  was 
completed.  If  the  crime  depends  upon  the  subsequent  accomplishment  of  the 
ultimate  purpose,  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  conviction  would  be  almost  im- 
possible and  the  statute  a  dead  letter. 

Take  the  present  case.  The  women  were  procured  and  delivered  to  be  taken 
to  Seattle  to  be  put  into  a  house  of  prostitution.  Supposing  that  the  person  re- 
ceiving them  had  also  had  the  guilty  purpose  and  he  and  the  women  had  started 
on  their  way  and  something  had  intervened  to  prevent  the  final  accomplishment, 
a  change  of  heart,  a  religious  conversion  of  one  or  other  of  the  parties,  a  railroad 
accident,  a  rescue,  or  any  other  interruption  of  the  design  and  purpose,  would 
that  have  affected  the  guilty  knowledge  and  intent  and  purpose  of  the  procuress 
who  had  done  every  act  within  her  power  to  do,  whose  connection  with  the  trans- 
action had  ceased,  and  make  that  innocent  which  otherwise  would  have  been  a 
crime?  We  do  not  so  read  the  statute.  It  should  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
the  evil  aimed  at  and  no  strained  construction  applied  to  its  simple  and  straight- 
forward language.  We  think  that  the  evidence  sustains  every  essential  element 
of  the  crime. 

2.  It  is  claimed  that  the  treatment  accorded  to  counsel  by  the  court  upon 
the  trial  tended  injuriously  to  affect  the  defendant  During  the  trial  the  court 
directed  counsel  to  show  cause  before  him  on  the  following  morning  why  he  should 
not  be  punished  for  contempt.  After  hearing  his  explanation  the  court  said,  that 
he  would  dispose  of  the  question  at  the  conclusion  of  the  trial  and  directed  the 
jury  in  emphatic  language  to  absolutely  banish  from  their  minds  that  incident: 
"It  is  not  to  be  the  subject  of  thought  for  any  of  you,  and  still  less  the  subject 
of  comment,  and  it  is  not  to  have  the  slightest  weight  with  you  in  determining 
what  verdict  shall  be  rendered  by  you  in  the  event  that  this  case  is  sent  to  you 
to  determine  what  the  verdict  shall  be."  The  incident  was  unfortunate  but  the 
conduct  of  counsel  brought  it  about  and  he  is  responsible  therefor  and  not  the 
court.  A  careful  reading  of  this  record  has  impressed  us  with  the  patience  and 
courtesy  of  the  trial  court.  Very  wide  latitude  was  granted  to  the  defendant's 
counsel,  but  against  repeated  warnings,  he  persisted  in  propounding  obnoxious 
and  immaterial  statements  thinly  disguised  in  the  form  of  questions  which  had 
been  ruled  out  again  and  again.  If  there  was  any  value  in  his  exception,  he  had 
it.  His  persistence  in  continuing  a  line  of  questioning  against  the  ruling  of  the 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  351 

court  finally  reached  the  point  where  the  court  properly  felt  that  its  dignity  and 
the  proper  conduct  of  the  case  required  the  action  taken.  We  find  nothing  to 
condemn  and  feel  assured  that  the  defendant  took  no  harm  by  the  incident. 

The  other  matters  urged  upon  our  attention  have  been  examined  by  us  but 
we  find  no  reversible  error  upon  this  record. 

The  judgment  appealed  from  should  be  affirmed. 

All  concur. 

For  the  use  of  states  or  countries  which  have  not  as  yet  passed 
laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  white  slave  traffic,  or  which  wish 
to  revise  the  laws  now  existing,  a  set  of  model  laws  has  been 
prepared  by  Honorable  James  Bronson  Reynolds  and  the  writer 
which  are  as  follows: 

AN  ACT 

In  Relation  to  Pandering,  to  Define  and  Prohibit  the  Same,  to  Provide  for  the 
Punishment  Thereof,  and  for  the  Competency  of  Certain  Evidence  at  the  Trial 
Thereof. 

Section  A.  Any  person  who  shall  procure  a  female  inmate  for  a  house  of 
prostitution;  or  who  shall  induce,  persuade,  encourage,  enveigle  or  entice  a  fe- 
male person  to  become  a  prostitute;  or  who  by  promises,  threats,  violence,  or  by 
any  device  or  scheme,  shall  cause,  induce,  persuade,  encourage,  take,  place,  harbor, 
enveigle  or  entice  a  female  person  to  become  an  inmate  of  a  house  of  prostitu- 
tion, or  assignation  place,  or  any  place  where  prostitution  is  practiced,  encour- 
aged, or  allowed;  or  any  person  who  shall,  by  promises,  threats,  violence,  or  by 
any  device  or  scheme,  cause,  induce,  persuade,  encourage,  enveigle  or  entice  an 
inmate  of  a  house  of  prostitution  or  place  of  assignation  to  remain  therein  as 
such  inmate;  or  any  person  who  by  promises,  threats,  violence,  by  any  device 
or  scheme,  by  fraud  or  artifice,  or  by  duress  of  person  or  goods,  or  by  abuse  of 
any  position  of  confidence  or  authority,  or  having  legal  charge,  shall  take,  place, 
harbor,  enveigle,  entice,  persuade,  encourage  or  procure  any  female  person  to 
enter  any  place  within  this  State  in  which  prostitution  is  practiced,  encouraged 
or  allowed,  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or  not  being  her  husband  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sexual  intercourse,  or  to  enveigle,  entice,  persuade,  encourage  or  procure 
any  female  person  to  come  into  this  State  or  to  leave  this  State  for  the  purpose 
of  prostitution  or  not  being  her  husband  for  the  purpose  of  sexual  intercourse; 
or  who  takes  or  detains  a  female  with  the  intent  to  compel  her  by  force,  threats, 
menace  or  duress  to  marry  him  or  to  marry  any  other  person  or  to  be  defiled; 
or  upon  the  pretense  of  marriage  takes  or  detains  a  female  person  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sexual  intercourse;  or  who  shall  receive  or  give  or  agree  to  receive  or 
give,  any  money  or  thing  of  value  for  procuring  or  attempting  to  procure  any 
female  person  to  become  a  prostitute  or  to  come  into  this  State  or  leave  this 
State  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or  not  being  her  husband  for  the  purpose 
of  sexual  intercourse  shall  be  guilty  of  pandering,  and  upon  eonviction.  shall  be 


352  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

punished  by  imprisonment  in  the  Penitentiary  for  a  term  of  not  lees  than 
years  to  life  imprisonment. 

Section  B.    Any  person  who   by   force,   fraud,  intimidation   or  threats,   ph 
or  leaves,  or  procures  any  other  person  or  persons  to  place  or  leave  his  wife  in 
house  of  prostitution  or  to  lead  a  life  of  prostitution  shall  be  guilty  of  a  feloi 
and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be   sentenced  to  the  Penitentiary   for  not 
than  two  nor  more  than  twenty  years. 

Section  (X    Any   person   who   shall   knowingly   accept,  receive,  levy   or   appi 
priate  any  money  or  other   valuable  thing,  without  consideration,   from  the   pi 
ceeds  of  the   earnings  of   any   woman   engaged   in   prostitution,   shall   be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  felony,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonmei 
for  a  period  not  less  than  two  nor  more  than  twenty  years.     Any  such  acceptai 
receipt,  levy  or  appropriation  of  such  money  or  valuable  thing,  shall,  upon  ai 
proceeding  or  trial  for  violation  of  this  Section,  be  presumptive  evidence  of 
of  consideration. 

Section  D.    Any  person  or  persons  who  attempts  to   detain  any   female 
son  in  a  disorderly  house  or  house  of  prostitution  because  of  any  debt  or  del 
she  has  contracted,  or  is  said  to  have  contracted,  while  living  in  said  house,  sht 
be  guilty  of  felony  and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be  sentenced  to  the  Penitei 
tiary  for  not  less  than  two  nor  more  than  twenty  years. 

Section  E.  Any  person  who  shall  knowingly  transport  or  cause  to  be  trai 
ported,  or  aid  or  assist  in  obtaining  transportation  for,  by  any  means  of  con- 
veyance into,  through  or  across  this  State,  any  female  person  for  the  purpose  of 
prostitution  or  with  the  intent  and  purpose  to  induce,  entice  or  compel  such  fe- 
male person  to  become  a  prostitute,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  felony  and  upon 
conviction  thereof  be  sentenced  to  the  Penitentiary  for  not  less  than  two  nor 
more  than  twenty  years;  any  person  who  may  commit  the  crime  in  this  section 
mentioned  may  be  prosecuted,  indicted,  tried  and  convicted  in  any  county  or  city 
in  or  through  which  he  shall  so  transport  or  attempt  to  transport  any  female 
person,  as  aforesaid. 

Section  F.  It  shall  not  be  a  defense  to  a  prosecution  for  any  of  the  acts  pro- 
hibited in  the  foregoing  sections  that  any  part  of  such  act  or  acts  shall  have  been 
committed  outside  this  State,  and  the  offense  shall  in  such  case  be  deemed  and 
alleged  to  have  been  committed  and  the  offender  tried  and  punished  in  any  county 
in  which  the  prostitution  was  intended  to  be  practiced  or  in  which  the  offense 
was  consummated,  or  any  overt  act  in  furtherance  of  the  offense  shall  have  been 
committed. 

Section  G.  Any  such  female  person  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  sections  may  be 
a  competent  witness  in  any  prosecution  under  this  Act  to  testify  for  or  against 
the  accused  as  to  any  transaction  or  as  to  any  conversation  with  the  accused  or 
by  him  with  another  person  or  persons  in  her  presence,  notwithstanding  her  hav- 
ing married  the  accused  before  or  after  the  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of 
this  Act,  whether  called  as  a  witness  during  the  existence  of  the  marriage  or 
after  its  dissolution. 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  358 

And  be  it  further  enacted  that  this  Act  shall  take  effect  from  the  date  of  its 
passage. 

For  copies   of  these  laws   write   the 

National    Vigilance   Committee    for   the    United   States, 

Office:      156  Fifth  Avenue, 

New  York. 

During  the  year  1908,  the  Honorable  Edwin  W.  Sims, 
United  States  District  Attorney  in  Chicago,  aided  by  his  able 
assistant,  Honorable  Harry  A.  Parkin,  successfully  prosecuted 
twenty-four  cases  against  white  slave  traders  under  the  Im- 
migration Act,  which  was  passed  in  the  spring  of  1908.  A  de- 
cision of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  later  declared  part 
of  this  Immigration  Act  unconstitutional,  and  the  burden  of 
prosecuting  the  procurers  was  thrown  upon  the  States.  For  a 
time  the  Federal  prosecutors  were  at  a  stand  still,  but  through 
the  unceasing  efforts  of  Mr.  Sims  a  new  law  was  prepared  by 
Congressman  James  R.  Mann  based  upon  the  power  under  the 
Commerce  Clause  of  the  Constitution  to  regulate  interstate 
transportation  of  persons,  as  well  as  goods. 

This  was  followed  by  the  action  of  Congress  in  passing  the 
"Mann"  bill  and  on  June  25th,  1910,  that  bill  became  a  law  un- 
der the  title  of  "The  White-Slave  Traffic  Act,"  which  makes  it 
a  crime  punishable  with  heavy  penalties  to  transport  women  or 
girls  from  one  state  to  another  for  immoral  purposes,  or  to  im- 
port alien  women  for  such  purposes. 

There  are  several  earnest  workers  for  the  passage  of  this 
bill.  Rev.  Ernest  A.  Bell  and  Rev.  M.  P.  Boynton,  of  Chicago, 
went  to  Washington  to  advocate  the  passage  of  the  bill.  Dr. 
O.  Edward  Janney,  Chairman  of  the  National  Vigilance  Com- 
mittee, was  there  also  to  help  the  bill  along.  The  writer  de- 
livered over  one  hundred  lectures  throughout  the  countiy  upon 
white  slavery  in  which  he  urged  his  hearers  to  write  Congress- 
men in  Washington  to  assist  Congressman  Mann  in  securing 
the  passage  of  the  bill. 

The  American  Purity  Federation  maintained  an  office  in 
Washington  where  James  H.  Patten  was  chairman  of  its  Na- 
tional Legislative  Committee.  Mr.  Patten  worked  hard  for  the 

23 


354  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

passage  of  the  Federal  white  slave  act.  A  letter  he  wrote,  dated 
December  19,  1910,  to  Mr.  B.  S.  Steadwell,  president  of  the  In- 
ter-National American  Purity  Federation  concerning  this  act  is 
here  given  in  part: 

"I  am  having  sent  copy  of  Senate  Document  No.  702,  on  the  passage  of  the 
White  Slave  Traffic  Act  through  the  Senate.  The  extract  from  the  Congressional 
Record  shows  the  important  part  which  Senator  Henry  Lodge  of  Massachusetts 
played  in  putting  that  great  piece  of  legislation  upon  the  federal  statute  books. 
He  not  only  secured  its  reporting  by  the  Senate  Immigration  Committee,  of 
which  he  is  a  member,  in  the  face  of  opposition,  but  wrote  the  majority  report, 
and  got  it  up  and  forced  it  through  the  Senate  the  very  last  day  of  the  last 
session  when  there  was  a  terrific  rush  of  business. 

"Senator  Lodge  is  one  of  our  very  best  friends.  He  is  a  member  of  the  U. 
S.  Immigration  Commission,  which  gave  us  that  valuable  Report  on  Importing 
Women  for  Immoral  Purposes,  Senate  Document  196.  He  did  us  a  valuable  turn 
on  June  25th  last,  which  could  have  been  done  only  by  one  of  his  long  standing 
and  experience  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

"I  am  absolutely  confident  that  the  evil  forces  which  opposed  the  passage  of 
The  White  Slave  Traffic  Act,  drawn  by  such  experts  as  District  Attorney  Sims 
and  Roe,  caused  it  to  be  fought  in  the  House  Committee  so  long,  worked  up  the 
witting  or  unwitting  opposition  along  constitutional  and  other  plausible  line*,  to 
it,  not  only  in  the  lower  branch,  but  also  in  the  upper  branch  of  Congress,  are 
back  of  the  mean  running  fight  and  campaign  of  misrepresentation  that  is  being 
made  is  Massachusetts  at  present  against  the  re-election  of  Senator  Lodge,  with 
a  view  to  influencing  the  Legislature. 

"We  have  an  excellent  scientifically  drawn  White  Slave  Traffic  Act,  Public 
No.  277,  which  became  a  law  June  25,  1910,  through  the  special  efforts  of  Lodge. 
The  other  white  slave  law  which  became  a  law  March  26,  1910,  is  of  little  con- 
sequence and  was  in  my  opinion  used  very  skillfully  by  the  opposition  to  block 
the  enactment  of  No.  277.  Its  number  is  Public  No.  107.  It  is  general,  lacks 
utterly  detailed  specification,  and  is  sure,  because  of  not  closely  distinguishing 
between  matters  for  Federal  and  State  legislation,  to  be  held  unconstitutional 
in  some  particulars  just  as  several  phrases  of  section  two  of  the  immigration 
Act  of  February  20th,  1907,  were  held,  and  which  are  virtually  re-enacted  in 
No.  107  with  only  slight  changes,  to  be  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court  in 
'In  Re  Rahrer,'  and  other  cases  in  April  one  year  ago.  The  so-called  Mann  Bill, 
drawn  by  Attorneys  Sims  and  Roe,  largely,  if  not  wholly,  which  was  H.  R.  12315, 
and  which  was  introduced  long  before  H.  R.  15816  (which  became  Public  No.  107), 
as  indicated  by  its  number,  is  the  one  that  Lodge  got  through.  What  is  needed 
now  is  an  appropriation  for  the  employment  of  experts  to  gather  evidence  and  to 
enforce  it  by  prosecution.  We  can  count  on  Lodge  to  press  this  matter  of  an 
appropriation  specially  for  its  enforcement  and  to  prod  the  administration  to 
vigorous  action." 

The  Federal  White  Slave  Traffic  Act  is  as  follows:    "An 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  855 

act  to  further  regulate  interstate  and  foreign  commerce  by  pro- 
hibiting the  transportation  therein  for  immoral  purposes  of 
women  and  girls,  and  for  other  purposes, ' ' 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  term  "interstate  commerce,"  as  used 
in  this  act,  shall  include  transportation  from  any  State  or  Territory  or  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  to  any  other  State  or  Territory  or  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  the  term  "foreign  commerce,"  as  used  in  this  act,  shall  include  transporta- 
tion from  any  State  or  Territory  or  the  District  of  Columbia  to  any  foreign 
country  and  from  any  foreign  country  to  any  State  or  Territory  or  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

Sec.  2.  That  any  person  who  shall  knowingly  transport  or  cause  to  be  trans- 
ported, or  aid  or  assist  in  obtaining  transportation  for,  or  in  transporting,  in  in- 
terstate or  foreign  commerce,  or  in  any  Territory  or  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
any  woman  or  girl  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or  debauchery,  or  for  any 
other  immoral  purpose,  or  with  the  intent  and  purpose  to  induce,  entice,  or  com- 
pel such  woman  or  girl  to  become  a  prostitute  or  to  give  herself  up  to.  debauchery, 
or  to  engage  in  any  other  immoral  practice;  or  who  shall  knowingly  procure  or 
obtain,  or  cause  to  be  procured  or  obtained,  or  aid  or  assist  in  procuring  or  ob- 
taining, any  ticket  or  tickets,  or  any  form  of  transportation  or  evidence  of  the 
right  thereto,  to  be  used  by  any  woman  or  girl  in  interstate  or  foreign  commerce, 
or  in  any  Territory  or  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  going  to  any  place  for  the  pur- 
pose of  prostitution  or  debauchery,  or  for  any  other  immoral  purpose,  or  with  the 
intent  or  purpose  on  the  part  of  such  person  to  induce,  entice,  or  compel  her  to 
give  herself  up  to  the  practice  of  prostitution,  or  to  give  herself  up  to  debauchery, 
or  any  other  immoral  practice,  whereby  any  such  woman  or  girl  shall  be  trans- 
ported in  interstate  or  foreign  commerce,  or  in  any  Territory  or  the  District  of 
Columbia,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  felony,  and  upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousands  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  of 
not  more  than  five  years,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment,  in  the  discretion 
of  the  court. 

Sec.  3.  That  any  person  who  shall  knowingly  persuade,  induce,  entice,  or 
coerce,  or  cause  to  be  persuaded,  induced,  enticed,  or  coerced,  or  aid  or  assist  in 
persuading,  inducing,  enticing,  or  coercing  any  woman  or  girl  to  go  from  one 
place  to  another  in  interstate  or  foreign  commerce,  or  in  any  Territory  or  the 
District  of  Columbia,  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution  or  debauchery,  or  for  any 
other  immoral  purpose,  or  with  the  intent  and  purpose  on  the  part  of  such  person 
that  such  woman  o*  girl  shall  engage  in  the  practice  of  prostitution  or  debauch- 
ery, or  any  other  immoral  practice,  whether  with  or  without  her  consent,  and 
who  shall  thereby  knowingly  cause  or  aid  or  assist  in  causing  such  woman  or  girl 
to  go  and  to  be  carried  or  transported  as  a  passenger  upon  the  line  or  route  of 
any  common  carrier  or  carriers  in  interstate  or  foreign  commerce,  or  any  Ter- 
ritory or  the  District  of  Columbia,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  felony  and  on 
conviction  thereof  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  five  thousand 
dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for  a  term  not  exceeding  five  years,  or  by  both 
such  fine  and  imprisonment,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 


356  LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS 

Sec.  4.  That  any  person  who  shall  knowingly  persuade,  induce,  entice,  or 
coerce  any  woman  or  girl  under  the  age  of  eighteen  years  from  any  State  or 
Territory  or  the  District  of  Columbia  to  any  other  State  or  Territory  or  the 
District  of  Columbia,  with  the  purpose  and  intent  to  induce  or  coerce  her,  or 
that  she  shall  be  induced  or  coerced  to  engage  in  prostitution  or  debauchery, 
or  any  other  immoral  practice,  and  shall  in  furtherance  of  such  purpose  know- 
ingly induce  or  cause  her  to  go  and  to  be  carried  or  transported  as  a  passenger 
in  interstate  commerce  upon  the  line  or  route  of  any  common  carrier  or  car- 
riers, shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  felony,  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment 
for  a  term  not  exceeding  ten  years,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment,  in 
the  discretion  of  the  court. 

Sec.  5.  That  any  violation  of  any  of  the  above  sections  two,  three,  and  four 
shall  be  prosecuted  in  any  court  having  jurisdiction  of  crimes  within  the  district 
in  which  said  violation  was  committed,  or  from,  through,  or  into  which  any 
such  woman  or  girl  may  have  been  carried  or  transported  as  a  passenger  in  inter- 
state or  foreign  commerce  or  in  any  Territory  or  the  District  of  Columbia,  con- 
trary to  the  provisions  of  any  of  said  sections. 

Sec.  6.  That  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  and  preventing  the  transportation  in 
foreign  commerce  of  alien  women  and  girls  for  purposes  of  prostitution  and  de- 
bauchery, and  in  pursuance  of  and  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  terms  of 
the  agreement  or  project  or  arrangement  for  the  suppression  of  the  white-slave 
traffic,  adopted  July  twenty-fifth,  nineteen  hundred  and  two,  for  submission  to 
their  respective  governments  by  the  delegates  of  various  powers  represented  at 
the  Paris  confernce  and  confirmed  by  a  formal  agreement  signed  at  Paris  on 
May  eighteenth,  nineteen  hundred  and  four,  and  adhered  to  by  the  United  States 
on  June  sixth,  nineteen  hundred  and  eight,  as  shown  by  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  dated  June  fifteenth,  nineteen  hundred  and  eight, 
the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration  is  hereby  designated  as  the  authority 
of  the  United  States  to  receive  and  centralize  information  concerning  the  pro- 
curation of  alien  women  and  girls  with  a  view  to  their  debauchery,  and  to  exer- 
cise supervision  over  such  alien  women  and  girls,  receive  their  declarations, 
establish  their  identity,  and  ascertain  from  them  who  induced  them  to  leave  their 
native  countries,  respectively;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  Commissioner- 
General  of  Immigration  to  receive  and  keep  on  file  in  his  office  the  statements 
and  declarations  which  may  be  made  by  such  alien  women  and  girls,  and  those 
which  are  hereinafter  required  pertaining  to  such  alien  women  and  girls  engaged 
in  prostitution  or  debauchery  in  this  country,  and  to  furnish  receipts  for  such 
statements  and  declarations  provided  for  in  this  act  to  the  persons,  respectively, 
making  and  filing  them. 

Every  person  who  shall  keep,  maintain,  control,  support,  or  harbor  in  any 
house  or  place  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution,  or  for  any  other  immoral  pur- 
pose, any  alien  woman  or  girl  within  three  years  after  she  shall  have  entered 
the  United  States  from  any  country,  party  to  the  said  arrangement  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  white-slave  traffic,  shall  file  with  the  Commissioner-General  of 
Immigration  a  statement  in  writing  setting  forth  the  name  of  such  alien  woman 


LEGISLATION  AGAINST  PANDERS  357 

or  girl,  the  place  at  which  she  is  kept,  and  all  facts  as  to  the  date  of  her  entry 
into  the  United  States,  the  port  through  which  she  entered,  her  age,  nationality, 
and  parentage,  and  concerning  her  procuration  to  come  to  this  country  within 
the  knowledge  of  such  person,  and  any  person  who  shall  fail  within  thirty  days 
after  such  person  shall  commence  to  keep,  maintain,  control,  support,  or  harbor 
in  any  house  or  place  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution,  or  for  any  other  immoral 
purpose,  any  alien  woman  or  girl  within  three  years  after  she  shall  have  entered 
the  United  States  from  any  of  the  countries,  party  to  the  said  arrangement  for 
the  suppression  of  the  white-slave  traffic,  to  file  such  statement  concerning  such 
alien  woman  or  girl  with  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigration,  or  who  shall 
knowingly  and  willfully  state  falsely  or  fail  to  disclose  in  such  statement  any  fact 
within  his  knowledge  or  belief  with  reference  to  the  age,  nationality,  or  parentage 
of  any  such  alien  woman  or  girl,  or  concerning  her  procuration  to  come  to  this 
country,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  two  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for 
a  term  not  exceeding  two  years,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment  in  the 
discretion  of  the  court. 

In  any  prosecution  brought  under  this  section,  if  it  appear  that  any  such  state- 
ment required  is  not  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigra- 
tion, the  person  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  file  such  statement  shall  be  presumed 
to  have  failed  to  file  said  statement,  as  herein  required,  unless  such  person  or 
persons  shall  prove  otherwise.  No  person  shall  be  excused  from  furnishing  the 
statement  as  required  by  this  section,  on  the  ground  or  for  the  reason  that  the 
statement  so  required  by  him,  or  the  information  therein  contained,  might  tend 
to  criminate  him  or  subject  him  to  a  penalty  or  forfeiture,  but  no  person  shall  be 
prosecuted  or  subjected  to  any  penalty  or  forfeiture  under  any  law  of  the  United 
States  for  or  on  account  of  any  transaction,  matter,  or  thing  concerning  which 
he  may  truthfully  report  in  such  statement,  as  required  by  the  provisions  of  this 
section. 

Sec.  7.  That  the  term  "Territory,"  as  used  in  this  act,  shall  include  the  district 
of  Alaska,  the  insular  possessions  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Canal  Zone. 
The  word  "person,"  as  used  in  this  act,  shall  be  construed  to  import  both  the  plural 
and  the  singular,  as  the  case  demands,  and  shall  include  corporations,  companies, 
societies  and  associations.  When  construing  and  enforcing  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  the  act,  omision,  or  failure  of  any  officer,  agent,  or  other  person  acting  for  or 
employed  by  any  other  person  or  by  any  corporation,  company,  society,  or  associa- 
tion within  the  scope  of  his  employment  or  office  shall  in  every  case  be  also  deemed 
to  be  the  act,  omission,  or  failure  of  such  other  person,  or  of  such  company,  corpo- 
ration, society,  or  association,  as  well  as  that  of  the  person  himself. 

Sec.  8.  That  this  act  shall  be  known  and  referred  to  as  the  "White-slave  traffic 
act." 

Information  concerning  any  violations  of  this  law  should  be 
communicated  to  the  United  States  attorney  for  the  proper 
district  or  to  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Investigation  Depart- 
ment of  Justice,  Washington,  D.  C. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  IOWA  "RED  LIGHT"  INJUNCTION  LAW  AND  ITS  SUCCESS. 
By  John  B.  Hammond,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

How  the  Great  Prairie   State   Cleaned   Out  the  Vice   Districts — Accomplished   by 
Special  Legislation— The  Law  That  Made  It  Possible. 

The  Iowa  * '  Red  Light ' '  Injunction  and  Abatement  Law,  which 
was  passed  by  the  Iowa  Legislature,  is  attracting  the  attention 
of  social  evil  reformers  in  all  sections  of  America.  The  effect- 
iveness of  this  law  has  surpassed  the  hopes  of  its  supporters. 
Mr.  Hammond,  who  contributes  the  following  article,  advocated 
the  passage  of  such  a  law  for  years,  and  he  is  now  planning  a 
campaign  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  this  law  and  its  success  to 
the  attention  of  lawmakers  in  every  state  of  our  Union. 

What  to  do  to  eradicate  the  social  evil,  is  the  question  that 
has  agitated  the  public  mind  in  every  age  and  country  for  cen- 
turies. Every  effort  to  suppress  it  in  the  past  has  proven  futile, 
and  its  march  of  progress  has  gone^>n  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation unchecked,  ever  increasing  its  power  of  destruction ;  curs- 
ing men,  enslaving  women,  and  bringing  incompetent,  deficient 
and  diseased  children  into  the  world  to  still  further  reduce  the 
average  of  our  citizenship,  physically,  intellectually,  morally  and 
spiritually.  Some  of  the  most  drastic  laws  have  been  enacted, 
to  suppress  or  curtail  this  evil,  but  in  vain.  At  times  hope  has 
almost  died  in  the  hearts  of  patriotic  men  and  women  who  have 
expended  their  greatest  energies  to  eliminate  this  evil  from  soci- 
ety. They  failed  because  they  did  not  first  seek  the  root  of 
this  evil,  and  successful  legislation  is  impossible  to  eliminate 
this  social  cancer  until  the  causes  which  breed  the  cancer  are 
known. 

Let  us  start  on  an  investigation.    We  search  but  a  disorderly 

358 


IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW  359 

house  (remember  that  our  first  step  is  to  find  a  house,  and  that 
the  first  step  in  establishing  this  business  is  the  procuring  of  a 
house) ;  we  enter  the  unprepossessing  building,  as  such  it  usually 
is,  and  are  met  at  the  door  by  the  gaudily-dressed  and  bejeweled 
madam,  who  conducts  the  place.  We  inquire  for  her  books  and 
find  that  she  is  dividing  the  profits  of  her  spoils  with  the  land- 
lord, through  a  system  of  exorbitant  rents.  The  building  for 
which  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  legitimate  tenant  at  fifteen  dol- 
lars per  month,  brings  fifty  dollars  per  week  for  this  soul  and 
body  wrecking  business.  This  is  the  system  through  which  the 
first  requisite  is  provided — the  house. 

We  turn  over  a  few  more  pages  of  the  record,  and  here  find 
that  the  owner  of  the  beautiful  upholstered  furniture,  brussels 
carpets  and  electric  piano,  is  receiving  another  division  of  the 
spoils  through  another  extortionate  rental  for  these  things.  We 
turn  over  a  few  more  pages  and  learn  that  an  average  girl  will 
earn,  for  her  keeper,  over  $5,000  per  annum.  We  find  that  the 
division  of  these  enormous  profits  with  the  landlord  and  the 
house-furnishing  grafters,  makes  the  business  a  possibility.  We 
step  into  a  little  stuffy  room,  filled  with  tobacco  smoke  and  whis- 
key fumes,  and  here  meet  a  bloated,  pimpled,  blear-eyed  degen- 
erate of  what  might  have  be$n  a  man,  familiarly  known  in  every 
resort  and  vulgarly  termed  "pimp."  This  individual  is  a  par- 
asite who  lives  on  the  shame  of  one  or  more  of  the  victims  of 
lust.  He  solicits  for  patrons,  lives  in  debauchery,  and  receives 
the  second  division  of  this  worse  than  tainted  money.  We  step 
into  a  parlor  and  there  find  an  individual,  usually  with  a  Roman 
nose  and  palms  held  upward,  displaying  cheap,  gaudy  garments, 
or  cheaper  and  more  worthless  jewelry,  surrounded  by  a  coterie 
of  inmates.  He  sells  his  goods  for  exorbitant  prices,  but  on  the 
weekly  payment  plan,  and  procures  the  third  division  of  the 
price  of  sin.  This  person  is  one  of  the  most  useful  to  the  "red- 
light"  resorts,  as  he  prevents  the  escape  of  inmates  through  the 
mortgage  he  holds  on  their  clothing;  and  when  a  dash  is  made 
for  liberty  by  some  heart-sick  victim,  he  sends  the  officers  of 


360  IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW 

the  law  after  her  with  a  warrant  for  removing  mortgaged  prop- 
erty or  obtaining  merchandise  under  false  pretenses. 

An  abrupt  rap  on  the  door,  and  we  turn,  startled,  toward  the 
entrance,  and  meet  a  big  policeman,  who  has  announced  his  pres- 
ence with  his  club.  The  social  evil  victim  is  placed  under  arrest 
for  not  having  paid  her  monthly  license  or  fine.  She  is  dragged 
into  a  police  court,  and  here  we  find  the  professional  bondsman 
again  forcing  a  division  of  her  life.  Again  she  returns  to  her 
death-dealing  task,  that  she  may  pay  into  the  city  treasury  a 
few  more  polluted  dollars  to  be  divided  equally  among  her  part- 
ners in  crime,  the  tax-payers  of  her  city. 

In  the  adjoining  room  are  low,  muffled  voices  and  almost  noise- 
less steps.  We  enter,  unannounced,  and  view  the  county  under- 
taker carrying  out  the  emaciated  form  of  what  once  was  the 
pride  of  a  mother's  heart,  and  over  whose  fate  the  mother  had 
preceded  her  child  into  the  beyond.  Hilarious  laughter  in  front, 
and  we  hasten  there.  It  is  the  arrival  of  a  new  victim,  who 
thinks  she  has  found  a  "lover  at  first  sight"  and  is  going  joy- 
fully to  the  marriage  altar ;  and  the  ranks  reduced  but  a  moment 
before  are  again  filled  and  another  tragedy  is  begun. 

We  hear  the  pleadings  and  moans  of  a  childish  voice  on  an  up- 
per floor ;  we  climb  the  stairs  and  are  met  at  the  landing  by  the 
madam  with  a  roll  of  crisp  bills,  the  receipts  from  the  sale  of  a 
new  white  slave  to  the  rich,  licentious  patron,  who  pays  out  large 
sums  of  money  to  procure  innocent  little  girls  to  debauch  and 
ruin.  A  look  through  the  transom,  as  the  door  is  barred,  and 
we  view  a  cruel,  heartless,  blear-eyed  demon  gloating  over  a  lit- 
tle fourteen-year-old  victim,  who  is  on  her  knees  begging  for 
mercy.  Our  hand  unconsciously  seeks  the  hip  pocket,  and  an 
itching  is  on  the  trigger  finger,  when  a  blue-coated  policeman, 
the  representative  of  the  law,  the  paid  defender  of  the  oppressed 
and  those  in  danger  of  bodily  harm,  reminds  us  that  the  house  is 
protected  by  the  city  authorities,  and  that  the  police  club  and 
the  jail  await  us  on  any  interference. 

With  the  numerous  demands  made  on  the  prostitute 's  nervous 
system,  she  becomes  a  victim  to  the  drug  habit,  the  tobacco  habit 


IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW  361 

and  the  liquor  habit ;  and  these,  in  turn,  so  reduce  her  natural 
vitality  that  she  becomes  an  easy  victim  to  disease,  a  ready  prey 
for  tuberculosis.  In  five  short  years  she  has  paid  the  price  of  her 
sins,  or  the  abuses  to  which  she  has  been  subjected,  with  her  life, 
either  through  disease  or  by  her  own  hand ;  but  long  before  this 
her  charms  have  disappeared  and  the  ravages  of  disease  can  no 
longer  be  hidden  with  paints  and  powders,  and  the  more  wealthy 
red-light  patrons  have  cast  her  aside  and  she  falls  into  the  hands 
of  the  lowest  types  of  the  underworld,  and  a  new  victim  is  de- 
manded to  take  her  place.  To  meet  these  demands  and  fill  up  the 
constantly  depleted  ranks,  an  army  of  procurers  and  pro- 
curesses are  created,  and  the  " white  slave  traffic"  is  established. 

The  world  is  aroused  today,  as  never  before,  over  the  magni- 
tude of  this  " White  Slave  Traffic,"  and  well  it  should  be,  as  no 
man's  child  is  exempt  from  the  draft  that  is  constantly  being 
made  on  our  homes. 

The  game  of  "lover  at  first  sight"  and  an  elopement  under 
the  guise  of  a  dramatic  marriage,  the  promise  of  a  stage  posi- 
tion where  the  "at  once  recognized  talent"  is  presented,  pleas- 
ant employment  in  the  shops,  factories  or  offices,  where  the 
promised  remuneration  is  alluring,  are  some  of  the  usual  meth- 
ods employed  to  decoy  the  little,  inexperienced,  self-conceited 
girl  of  the  rural  districts  into  these  death  traps;  but  physical 
force  is  frequently  used  by  procurers  where  their  deceptions 
are  unsuccessful. 

These  are  startling  statements,  and  the  more  intensely  start- 
ling because  they  are  so  abundantly  supported  by  specific  his- 
torical facts.  In  the  city  of  Chicago  a  twelve-year-old  girl  was 
rescued  in  a  resort  and  held  at  a  police  station  recently,  and  a 
simple  announcement  of  the  fact  in  a  morning  paper  brought  in- 
quiries from  five  hundred  parents  whose  daughters  had  recent- 
ly disappeared.  Where  were  the  other  499  girls?  Where  were 
the  officials  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  such  as  these?  Chief 
Steward  admits,  in  uncontradicted  newspaper  interviews,  that 
many  "shady  hotels"  in  his  city  are  detaining  girls  under  four- 
teen years  of  age  for  immoral  purposes.  Why  does  he  not  res- 


362  IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW 

cue  these  little  helpless  victims,  though  he  must  call  into  action 
the  entire  military  force  of  his  state?  When,  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  was  there  ever  a  more  worthy  cause  of  war? 

An  excuse  for  the  segregation  and  permission,  by  city  officials, 
of  houses  of  prostitution,  is  that  they  are  a  necessity  for  the 
protection  of  decent  women.  This  statement  should  be  branded 
by  decent  people  as  a  lie,  for  there  is  no  city  so  dangerous  for 
women  as  the  city  with  the  segregated  district,  and  no  section 
nearly  so  dangerous  as  these  districts ;  and  the  city  officials  who 
advocate  or  enforce  segregation  are  either  as  ignorant  as  South 
African  apes,  or  as  rotten  as  hell,  and  every  man  who  advocates 
open  houses  of  vice  as  a  necessity  should  at  once  be  branded  as 
a  self -admitted  patron  of  vice  resorts,  and  be  denied  admission 
into  decent  society. 

Another  excuse  is  offered,  fully  as  false  as  the  first,  that  the 
closing  of  segregated  districts  will  only  scatter  the  evil  over  the 
city,  and  they  will  ply  their  vice,  secretly,  in  the  residence  dis- 
tricts. We  need  no  further  proof  to  refute  this  lie  than  the  tes- 
timony of  Assistant  Chief  of  Police  Ab  Day,  of  Des  Moines,  who 
had  greater  opportunities  to  know  of  the  working  of  the  segre- 
gated plan  than  almost  any  other  man ;  a  man  whose  reputation 
for  cleanliness,  efficiency  and  patriotism  is  beyond  even  the 
reach  of  the  common  slanderer;  a  man  whose  life  has  been  an 
open  book,  and  who  makes  the  open  admission  that  this  city  was 
in  league  with  this  traffic,  says,  in  an  authorized  interview,  in 
the  Register  and  Leader :  l 1  It  is  not  generally  known  to  persons 
outside  of  the  police  department,  that  in  the  days  of  the  l  red- 
light  district, '  when  it  was  commonly  believed  that  lewd  women 
were  segregated,  not  more  than  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  traffic 
was  really  carried  on  in  the  district.  Everywhere  in  the  city 
were  disorderly  houses,  and  the  police  were  constantly  raiding 
these  places.  It  was  impossible  to  control  them,  however,  for 
the  district  and  its  patrons  added  fresh  fuel  constantly.  It  was 
like  fighting  a  great  fire ;  as  fast  as  we  suppressed  it  in  one  place, 
it  broke  out  afresh  in  another.  After  the  abolishment  of  the 
'line'  an  attempt  was  made  to  carry  on  the  same  business,  BUT 


IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW  363 

THE  CITY  WAS  NOT  IN  LEAGUE  WITH  THE  TRAFFIC 
ANY  MORE,  and  instead  of  allowing  prostitutes  to  pay  their 
fines  and  return  to  their  old  haunts  and  habits,  we  forced  them 
to  leave  the  city." 

4  *  The  best  evidence  of  the  decrease  in  the  business  is  the  fact 
that  complaints  from  the  residence  districts  have  decreased  at 
least  seventy-five  per  cent.  In  the  days  of  the  i  line '  we  received 
call  after  call  every  night  of  the  week,  concerning  riotous  con- 
duct in  some  house.  Now  we  do  not  receive  to  exceed  one  call 
a  week,  and  many  of  these  we  discover  to  be  without  founda- 
tion. " 

All  investigations  along  every  line  of  vice  evils,  lead  back  to 
the  first  requisite,  as  a  house  in  which  to  hide;  and  establish 
another  important  fact,  that  the  properties  so  used  are  invari- 
ably owned  by  someone  other  than  the  keeper.  This  is  made 
necessary  on  account  of  judgments  against  a  keeper  that  would 
encumber  and  endanger  the  property.  This  brings  us  to  the 
only  legitimate  conclusion,  that  the  property  must  be  our  prin- 
cipal point  of  attack.  We  must  deprive  vice  outlaws  and  their 
victims  of  a  place  in  which  to  hide.  This  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  making  the  property  owner  responsible  for  the  vice 
crimes  committed  on  his  property.  This  will  make  the  "social 
evil"  and  the  "white  slave "  traffic  unprofitable  and  dangerous. 
The  second  strategic  point  of  attack  is  upon  the  other  necessary 
condition  before  a  house  of  prostitution  can  be  successfully  oper- 
ated, furniture  for  the  house ;  and  we  find  that  the  same  rule  that 
governs  the  ownership  of  the  first  requisite,  the  house,  also  gov- 
erns the  second,  and  we  must  make  the  furniture  owner,  who  is 
equally  guilty  with  the  keeper  and  the  property  owner,  respon- 
sible for  the  illegitimate  use  of  his  property,  and  subject  it  to 
confiscation. 

Legislatures  have  endeavored  to  pass  prohibitive  measures 
for  this  evil,  in  every  state  in  the  Union,  and  gladly  accepted  and 
acted  upon  the  suggestions  of  reputable  reformers,  only  to  be 
disappointed  by  seeing  them,  at  the  best,  spasmodically  enforced, 
through  the  election  of  an  occasional  intellectual  and  moral  gi- 


364  IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW 

ant,  an  accident — such  as  a  Folk,  a  Byers,  a  Bradley,  a  Hanly,  a 
Wayman,  a  Trickett,  or  a  Sims,  and  then  to  become  dead  let- 
ters on  the  election  of  their  successors,  when  they  happen  to 
either  be  of  mediocre  ability  or  corrupt  morals.  The  great  rank 
and  file  of  our  citizenship  desire  the  suppression  of  every  form 
of  vice,  and  insist  on  their  representatives  passing  drastic  pro- 
hibitive measures,  and  then  subject  the  enforcement  of  these 
measures  to  the  caprice  of  chance  in  selecting  executive  officials, 
handicapped  by  an  old,  worn-out,  failure  of  a  system,  through 
which  a  prosecuting  attorney  guesses  against  an  attorney  who  is 
paid  to  defeat  the  purposes  of  the  law,  in  selecting  twelve  men 
who  are  to  say  whether  the  law  is  to  be  enforced  or  not ;  and  if 
the  defendant's  attorney  makes  one  good  guess,  he  has  the  com- 
bined judgment  and  power  of  the  other  eleven  defeated.  One 
man  out  of  twelve,  selected,  frequently,  by  the  most  corrupt  meth- 
ods, which  has  been  demonstrated  in  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  Mil- 
waukee, St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  Des  Moines,  and  many  other 
cities,  and  given  the  power  to  nullify  the  criminal  statutes  of  a 
state. 

The  State  of  Iowa  was  meeting  the  same  discouragements  as 
the  result  of  the  same  kind  of  legislation  as  was  her  sister  states. 
Laws  prohibiting  houses  of  prostitution,  with  a  penitentiary 
penalty  for  its  violation,  were  on  her  statutes  for  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century ;  but  so  seldom  was  there  a  conviction  that  very  few 
citizens  knew  there  was  such  a  law.  Grand  juries  would  not  in- 
dict and  petit  juries  would  not  convict.  Every  large  city  in  the 
state  had  its  "  red-light "  districts,  where  vice  was  openly  ad- 
vertised and  exhibited.  Women  were  held  in  bondage  and  the 
' '  white  slave ' '  traffic  was  rampant.  The  hand  of  the  suicide  and 
the  dagger  of  the  assassin  were  constantly  busy.  Instead  of 
decent  women  being  made  safe  by  the  presence  of  these  houses, 
the  danger  was  intensified.  They  would  not  venture  on  the 
streets  after  night  without  a  male  escort,  and  it  was  no  uncom- 
mon thing  to  hear  them  inquire  of  companions  if  they  were 
armed.  John  L.  Hamery,  Superintendent  of  Public  Safety,  of 
Des  Moines,  declared,  after  a  number  of  cases  he  had  sent  to 


IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW  365 

the  grand  jury  had  been  ignored,  that  "Prosecutions  of  this 
nature  invariably  find  their  graveyard  at  the  County  Court 
House."  Iowa  cities  were  advertised  more  widely  by  their 
"Smoky  Bows,"  their  "White  Chapels,"  their  "Buck  Towns," 
their  "lines,"  etc.,  than  by  their  homes,  schools,  churches  and 
commercial  activities.  Iowa  had  also  met  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
curing competent  evidence  with  which  to  convict  keepers  of  im- 
moral resorts.  Patrons  of  these  places  would  usually  prefer  to 
perjure  themselves  rather  than  admit  that  they  were  frequent- 
ers of  these  places,  and  those  who  would  make  such  admissions 
were  so  low  down  in  the  scale  of  humanity,  that  no  respectable 
man  sitting  on  a  jury  would  give  much  weight  to  their  evidence. 
Decent  men  engaged  in  the  dangerous  occupation  of  detectives 
hesitate  about  entering  these  places  to  secure  secret  evidence. 
Their  wives,  mothers  and  sweethearts  are  as  dear  to  them  as  to 
other  men,  and  they  prefer  jeopardizing  their  reputations  for 
competency  rather  than  forfeit  their  right  to  the  respect  and 
love  of  those  whom  they  hold  dearer  than  life.  No  officer  of 
detectives  who  has  a  grain  of  manhood  about  him,  will  order  a 
subordinate  to  enter  one  of  these  dens  of  vice  for  the  purpose 
of  secretly  procuring  evidence.  There  is  no  other  legitimate 
action  the  detective  can  take  than  the  forcible  raiding  of  such  a 
building. 

Here  stood  Iowa  looking  across  the  greatest  country  and  gov- 
ernment the  world  ever  knew,  seeking  some  avenue  of  escape, 
some  effective  remedy  for  a  condition  that  was  sapping  her  very 
life 's  blood ;  but  all  she  could  discover  was  the  wrecks  of  promis- 
ing systems  that  had  been  tested,  found  wanting,  and  cast  aside ; 
but,  true  to  her  patriotic  and  independent  history  that  has  al- 
ways characterized  this  garden  spot  of  the  Union,  not  being  able 
to  fine  a  precedent,  she  set  about  to  establish  one. 

Iowa  had  an  experience  with  her  prohibition  liquor  laws, 
when  juries  were  as  unreliable  and  prejudiced  as  they  are  in  the 
prohibition  of  prostitution,  and  she  side-stepped  the  jury  system 
by  providing  an  action  in  equity,  the  injunction  and  abatement 
law,  tli rough  which  any  citizen  of  the  county  could  prosecute  an 


366  IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW 

action  before  a  judge  or  court,  and  procure  an  order  placing  the 
occupants  and  owners  of  a  liquor  nuisance  under  a  court  injunc- 
tion, commanding  the  defendants  to  pay  the  costs  in  the  case,  in- 
cluding an  attorney  ?s  fee  for  the  plaintiff,  forever  cease  the  sale 
or  keeping  for  sale,  intoxicating  liquors  at  any  place  in  the  ju- 
dicial district,  order  the  sheriff  to  seize  and  destroy  all  liquors 
found  on  the  premises,  seize  and  sell  all  chattels,  all  fixtures,  fur- 
niture, vessels,  etc.,  and  effectually  close  the  building  for  all 
purposes  for  one  year.  Any  person  who  violates  any  of  these 
orders  is  in  contempt  of  court  and  must  be  fined  not  less  than 
$200  nor  more  than  $1,000,  and  be  committed  at  hard  labor  until 
the  costs  and  fine  are  paid.  In  case  the  court  or  judge  refuses  to 
grant  the  writ  as  prayed,  or  to  fine  or  commit  those  guilty  of 
contempt,  the  plaintiff  has  a  speedy  remedy  in  the  Supreme 
Court. 

The  state  also  had  trouble  in  procuring  witnesses  to  testify  to 
the  purchase  of  liquors  and  the  identification  of  the  seller  and 
the  place  of  the  sale,  and  a  law  was  enacted  providing  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  liquor  nuisance  by  the  general  reputation  of 
the  place.  Every  feature  of  this  law  has  been  reviewed  and  ap- 
proved by  the  Supreme  Courts  of  both  the  state  and  United 
States.  Iowa  has  another  prohibitory  law,  that  against  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  cigarettes  or  cigarette  papers;  but 
while  the  traffic  is  prohibited,  a  tax  of  $300  is  assessed  against 
the  property  where  such  a  business  is  shown  to  be  conducted. 
The  question  was  at  once  raised  that  a  business  could  not  be 
taxed  and  the  business  then  prohibited.  This  issue  was  carried 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state  and  sustained  and  appealed 
to  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court,  and  there  approved. 

Iowa  took  these  two  laws,  about  which  no  constitutional  ques- 
tion could  be  raised,  united  them  together,  made  them  applicable 
to  the  social  evil  and  the  white  slave  traffic,  and  fired  the  first 
effective  shot  at  this  international  crime. 

This  new  law  went  into  effect  on  the  Fourth  day  of  July,  1909, 
and  on  the  fifth  day  of  July,  1909,  there  was  not  an  open  public 
house  of  prostitution  in  the  state  of  Iowa. 


IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW  367 

When  owners  found  that  the  titles  to  their  properties  were  to 
be  burdened  with  injunctions  and  penalties,  and  no  remedy  to 
clear  the  title  or  dissolve  the  injunction,  that  the  ground  upon 
which  the  buildings  were  located,  as  well  as  the  buildings,  were 
enjoined,  and  the  removal  of  the  enjoined  buildings  and 
the  erection  of  new  ones  would  not  relieve,  them,  and  neither 
would  the  transfer  of  the  property  to  innocent  parties,  and  that 
a  tax  of  $300  would  follow  the  issuance  of  an  injunction,  they 
at  once  realized  that  they  were  partners  in  a  dangerous  busi- 
ness and  it  was  advisable  to  immediately  dissolve  their  partner- 
ship with  vice  and  crime.  The  kind-hearted  capitalists  who  were 
furnishing  the  gorgeous  apartments  with  expensive  furniture, 
velvet  carpets  and  rugs,  and  the  latest  patented  electric  musical 
instruments,  at  so  much  per  week,  suddenly  concluded  that  their 
investments  were  in  danger,  for  the  law  provided  for  their  con- 
fiscation. They  also  dissolved  their  partnership.  No  longer 
would  bribes  of  public  officials  by  either  money  or  official  posi- 
tion, avail  them.  No  longer  could  juries  selected  by  corrupt  offi- 
cials stay  the  hand  of  justice.  Every  citizen  was  endowed  with 
authority,  and  any  one  of  them  likely  at  any  time  to  institute 
a  suit  that  would  confiscate  their  illegitimate  earnings.  They 
could  no  longer  depend  on  the  willing  perjury  of  witnesses  to 
clear  them,  for  decent  citizens  could  establish  the  nuisance  by  its 
general  reputation.  When  this  law  became  effective,  the  madam 
could  no  longer  provide  a  building  in  which  to  conduct  her 
damnable  business,  and  when  she  was  forced  out  of  business  the 
"pimp"  had  to  go  to  honest  work,  the  inmates  were  either 
driven  into  decency  or  out  of  the  state,  the  pawn-brokers,  the 
professional  bondsman  and  the  extortionate  "weekly  payment" 
merchants  who  were  existing  and  growing  fat  on  the  profits  of 
vice,  were  looking  for  other  fields,  to  exploit,  the  procurers  and 
procuresses  suddenly  awakened,  in  a  bewildered  frame  of  mind, 
to  a  realization  that  their  market  for  white  slaves  had  been  de- 
stroyed at  one  stroke. 

In  adapting  the  "injunction  and  abatement"  system  over  the 
social  evil,  it  does  not  affect  the  criminal  laws  already  in  force, 


868  IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW 

and  for  the  same  offense  a  criminal  may  be  prosecuted  in  both 
the  criminal  and  civil  courts,  the  constitutionality  of  which  is 
already  established  by  the  highest  courts. 

Through  prosecutions  under  this  system,  some  one  may  occa- 
sionally be  wronged  in  his  property  rights,  but  no  man's  prop- 
erty rights  are  as  sacred  as  his  liberty  and  that  of  his  daughters. 
If  we  must  destroy  some  innocent  man's  house  that  we  may  res- 
cue some  helpless  woman  from  the  lowest  type  of  slavery  that 
ever  cursed  the  earth,  let  us  consider  his  rights  only  after  the 
rescue  is  accomplished. 

THE  IOWA  "RED  LIGHT"  INJUNCTION  AND  ABATEMENT  LAW. 

(Lines  in  black  are  desirable  changes  that  will  be  presented 
to  the  next  General  Assembly.) 

AN  ACT  to  enjoin  and  abate  houses  of  lewdness,  assignation  and  prostitution,  to 
declare  the  same  to  be  nuisances,  to  enjoin  the  person  or  persons  who  conduct  or 
maintain  the  same,  and  the  owner  or  agent  of  any  building  used  for  such  purpose, 
and  to  assess  a  tax  against  the  person  maintaining  said  nuisance  and  against  the 
building  and  owner  thereof. 
Be  It  Enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Iowa: 

Section  1.  Whoever  shall  erect,  establish,  continue,  maintain,  use,  own  or  lease 
any  building,  erection  or  place  used  for  the  purpose  of  lewdness,  assignation  or  pros- 
titution is  guilty  of  a  nuisance,  and  the  building,  erection  or  place,  or  the  ground 
itself,  in  or  upon  which  such  lewdness,  assignation  or  prostitution  is  conducted, 
permitted  or  carried  on,  continued  or  exists,  and  the  furniture,  fixtures,  musical 
instruments,  and  contents  are  also  declared  a  nuisance,  and  shall  be  enjoined  and 
abated  as  hereinafter  provided. 

Sec.  2.  Whenever  a  nuisance  is  kept,  maintained  or  exists,  as  defined  in  this  act, 
the  county  attorney  or  any  citizen  of  the  county  may  maintain  an  action  in  equity 
in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Iowa,  upon  the  relation  of  such  county  attorney  or 
citizen,  to  perpetually  enjoin  said  nuisance,  the  person  or  persons  conducting  or 
maintaining  the  same,  and  the  owner  or  agent  of  the  building  or  ground  upon 
which  said  nuisance  exists.  In  such  action  the  court  or  a  judge  in  vacation,  shall, 
upon  the  presentation  of  a  petition  therfor  alleging  that  the  nuisance  complained 
of  exists,  allow  a  temporary  writ  of  injunction  without  bond,  if  it  shall  be  made 
to  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  court  or  judge  by  evidence  in  the  form  of  affi- 
davits, depositions,  oral  testimony  or  otherwise,  as  the  complainant  may  elect, 
unless  the  court  or  judge,  by  previous  order,  shall  have  directed  the  form  and  manner 
in  which  it  shall  be  presented.  Three  days'  notice  in  writing  shall  be  given  the 
defendant  of  the  hearing  of  the  application,  and  if  then  continued  at  his  instance, 
the  writ  as  prayed  shall  be  granted  as  a  matter  of  course.  When  an  injunction 
has  been  granted,  it  shall  be  binding  on  the  defendant  throughout  the  judicial  dis- 


IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW  369 


370  IOWA  INJUNCTION  LAW 

of  the  county,  conditioned  that  he  will  immediately  abate  said  nuisance  and  pre- 
vent the  same  from  being  established  or  kept  therein  within  a  period  of  one 
year  thereafter,  the  court,  or,  in  vacation,  the  judge,  may,  if  satisfied  of  his  good 
faith,  order  the  premises  closed  under  the  order  of  abatement  to  be  delivered,  to 
said  owner,  and  said  order  of  abatement  cancelled  so  far  as  the  same  may  relate 
to  said  property;  and  if  the  proceeding  be  an  action  in  equity  and  said  bond  be 
given  and  costs  therein  paid  before  judgment  and  order  of  abatement,  the  action 
shall  be  therby  abated  as  to  said  building  only.  The  release  of  the  property 
under  the  provisions  of  this  section  shall  not  release  it  from  any  judgment,  lien, 
penalty  or  liability  to  which  it  may  be  subject  by  law. 

Sec.  8.  Whenever  a  permanent  .injunction  issues  against  any  person  for  main- 
taining a  nuisance  as  herein  denned,  or  against  any  owner  or  agent  of  the  build- 
ing kept  or  used  for  the  purposes  prohibited  by  this  act,  there  shall  be  assessed 
against  said  building  and  the  grounds  upon  which  the  same  is  located  and  against 
the  person  or  persons  maintaining  said  nuisance,  and  the  owner  or  agent  of  said 
premises,  a  tax  of  three  hundred  dollars.  The  assessment  of  said  tax  shall  be 
made  by  the  assessor  of  the  city,  town  or  township  in  which  the  nuisance  exists 
and  shall  be  made  within  three  months  from  the  date  of  the  granting  of  the 
permanent  injunction.  In  case  the  assessor  fails  or  neglects  to  make  said  assess- 
ment the  same  shall  be  made  by  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  a  return  of  said 
assessment  shall  be  made  to  the  county  treasurer.  Said  tax  shall  be  a  perpetual 
lien  upon  all  property,  both  personal  and  real,  used  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
said  nuisance,  and  the  payment  of  said  tax  shall  not  relieve  the  person  or  build- 
ing from  any  other  penalties  provided  by  law.  The  provisions  of  the  law  relating 
to  the  collection  and  distribution  of  the  mulct  liquor  tax  shall  govern  in  the 
collection  and  distribution  of  the  tax  herein  prescribed  in  so  far  as  the  same  are 
applicable,  and  not  in  conflict  with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  excepting  that  ten 
per  cent  of  the  amount  so  collected  shall  be  paid  by  the  treasurer  to  the  attorney: 
representing  the  state  in  the  injunction  action  at  the  time  of  final  judgment. 

THE  EFFICIENCY  OF  THE  "RED  LIGHT"  INJUNCTION  LAW  RECOGNIZED. 

The  following  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  State 
Convention  in  session  at  Davenport,  Iowa,  October  15-18,  1909 : 

Believing  in  the  same  standard  of  purity  for  men  and  women,  we  deplore  the 
White  Slave  traffic,  the  segregation  system  and  civic  alliance  service  with  its  col- 
lection of  fines  for  vice.  We  endorse  the  "red  light  injunction  and  abatement 
law"  enacted  by  the  last  legislature,  recognizing  it  as  the  most  effective  measure 
ever  adopted  to  destroy  the  "White  Slave  traffic,"  prevent  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  houses  of  ill -fame  and  absolutely  prohibit  the  vicious  practice 
of  the  segregation  of  this  vice  in  our  cities. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

AMERICA'S  AWAKENING— WOMEN  IN  THE  CRUSADE  TO  PROTECT 

THE    HOME. 

The  Greatest  Fight  the  World  has  Ever  Known— Who  are  Doing  the  Fighting— Our 
Weapons— Publicity,  Education,  Enlightenment— What  America's  Women  are 
Doing  in  the  Fight 

The  sweetest  word  to  all  mankind  is  home.  Home  is  the  fair- 
est heritage  in  life,  and  is  nearest  our  hearts.  Laws  are  made 
to  protect  the  home  from  intrusion.  Wars  have  been  waged 
for  years  that  homes  may  be  secure  and  undefiled. 

Yet,  as  we  have  seen,  a  hideous  monster,  known  as  white 
slavery,  has  crept  in  among  us  and  is  undermining  our  homes. 
Its  poisonous  venom  has  corrupted  and  diseased  our  boys.  It 
has  coiled  its  slimy  tentacles  around  our  girls  and  strangled 
purity  and  innocence.  It  has  thus  demoralized  the  sancity  of 
our  homes  and  destroyed  peace  and  happiness.  In  time,  if  not 
killed  it  will  crush  out  decent  government,  for  when  our  homes 
are  destroyed  our  government  is  ruined,  because  the  home  is  the 
foundation  of  all  government.  That  is  the  reason  the  crusade 
to  protect  the  home  is  on  today. 

Yes,  the  greatest  fight  the  world  has  ever  known  is  now  in 
progress.  Great  armies  like  those  that  fought  and  fell  in  the 
bloody  battles  of  the  past  can  never  blot  out  this  slavery.  No 
shot  and  shell,  no  drum  to  cheer  the  soldiers  on,  no  glittering 
armor  and  musketry,  nor  the  measured  tread  of  a  thousand 
soldiers  marching  under  floating  banners  brilliant  in  the  sun- 
light will  be  told  about  in  the  pages  of  history  that  chronicle 
this  war. 

Instead  we  find  warring  valiantly  against  those  who  barter 
and  sell  the  souls  and  bodies  of  our  daughters,  the  army  of 
civilization.  The  soldiers  are  the  people  of  all  nations.  The 
weapons  are  publicity,  education,  enlightenment,  honest  laws  for 
social  purity  and  the  proper  enforcement  of  these  laws. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  these  weapons  are  the  most 

371 


372  AMERICA'S  AWAKENING 

effective,  this  book  and  similar  works  would  have  no  place  in 
the  world. 

It  is  not  a  battle  of  days,  but  a  war  of  years  carefully  planned 
and  vigorously  fought. 

The  value  of  publicity  cannot  be  estimated.  It  is  known, 
however,  that  through  it  hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of 
girls  have  been  saved.  They  have  read  about  the  methods  of 
the  procurers  and  panders  in  newspapers,  magazines  and  books 
and  are  in  this  way  put  on  their  guard. 

Through  this  publicity  of  a  nation's  disgrace,  America  has 
been  awakened.  Never  before  in  the  history  of  our  people  has 
there  been  such  a  great  awakening.  At  last  the  realization 
has  dawned  that  womanhood  and  manhood  are  at  stake,  our 
homes  are  in  jeopardy,  and  the  stability  of  the  nation  is  im- 
paired by  the  rearing  of  weak  and  debauched  children. 

Slowly  the  awful  fact  that  a  great  dismembered,  disjointed 
business  of  trading  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  its  daughters  has 
dawned  upon  a  busy,  hustling,  commercial  nation.  Its  people^ 
too  busy  making  money,  had  allowed  this  nauseating  white  slav- 
ery to  develop  and  grow  right  under  their  very  noses  unnoticed 
until  its  smell  became  so  terrible  that  it  was  sickening. 

Politicians  and  city,  county,  state  and  government  authorities 
had  winked  at  it,  and  kept  silent.  Mission  workers  and  settle- 
ment workers  learned  of  it,  complained  about  it,  and  were  called 
fanatics  and  visionists.  These  people  were  powerless  against 
a  powerful  enemy  to  society.  They  prayed,  they  resoluted,  and 
finally  they  shouted.  At  length  the  sleepy,  somewhat  discon- 
certed public  was  aroused  from  the  golden  trance  and  dream  of 
riches  of  the  morrow.  Just  a  trifle  ruffled,  perhaps,  because 
bothered  so  much  about  this  white  slave  business,  the  public  was 
fairly  willing  to  listen  when  honest  public  officials,  having 
learned  the  truth,  decided  to  let  the  world  know  about  it. 

Prosecutors  hunted  clown  and  convicted  the  white  slave  trad- 
ers and  the  newspapers,  shy  at  first,  began  to  tell  the  people 
about  these  cases. 

Addresses  and  lectures  were  given,  ministers  were  advised 


AMERICA'S  AWAKENING  373 

of  the  facts  and  awakened  from  their  lethargy  and  men  of  af- 
fairs commenced  to  discuss  the  affair. 

Committees  were  formed,  laws  were  passed,  cases  by  the 
hundreds  were  brought  into  the  courts.  Yet  some  doubted. 
Politicians  and  vice  kings  ridiculed  and  belittled  the  idea  of  such 
a  business.  The  public  hesitated.  Then  came  more  startling 
revelations.  The  protectors  of  vice  tried  to  stiffle  these  revela- 
tions, but  the  fire  had  been  kindled,  publicity  had  fanned  the 
flame,  and  the  great  fire  which  is  rapidly  wiping  out  vice  dis- 
tricts and  their  feeders,  white  slave  traders,  is  fast  being  wiped 
out. 

While  the  traffic  in  girls  is  being  obliterated,  the  slave  traders 
are  scurrying  here  and  there  for  shelter.  Some  cities  not  yet 
fully  alive  to  the  situation  are  housing  them,  while  others  are 
driving  them  out. 

Vice  commissions  are  being  inaugurated  in  many  cities  to 
investigate  and  report  upon  conditions.  Political  battles  are 
being  waged  for  and  against  vice,  and  the  traffic  in  girls. 
Great  progressive  political  movements  are  being  launched 
against  old  time  politicians  who  have  connived  at  and  flirted 
with  vice  and  its  right  hand  partner,  white  slavery,  in  order 
to  gain  personal,  selfish  power  at  the  expense  of  the  nation's 
manhood  and  womanhood. 

And  while  men  have  been  fully  aroused,  women  too  have 
come  out  of  their  shells  of  false  modesty  to  learn  and  know  the 
truth,  and  having  learned  it  they  have  become  important  factors 
in  the  crusade  for  civic  righteousness. 

Organizations  throughout  the  land  dominated  by  women  have 
come  to  the  front  and  volunteered  to  help  in  the  crusade  to  pro- 
tect the  purity  of  homes. 

The  following  article  by  a  prominent  club  woman  shows  the 
part  women  are  taking  in  America's  awakening. 

By  Mrs.  Freeman  E.  Brown,  President  of  the  League  of  Cook  County  Clubs. 

This  girl  problem  is  not  new  by  any  means,  it  is  as  old  as 
Adam  and  Eve.  I  have  heard  some  pessimists  say,  "What 


874  AMERICA'S  AWAKENING 

about  it?  It  always  has  existed  in  the  past  and  will  continue 
to  exist  for  eons  to  come."  But  let  us  be  thankful  the  pessi- 
mists are  comparatively  few  in  number,  or  we  would  become  dis- 
couraged and  give  up  our  attempts  to  better  conditions  in  this 
old  world  of  ours  at  once. 

The  greatest  hope  for  the  future  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
women  of  the  country  are  becoming  aroused.  Illinois  club 
women  have  been  for  many  years  in  the  front  rank  in  pushing 
needed  reforms.  It  has  become  a  recognizable  fact  that  wo- 
men's organizations  are  becoming  more  and  more  potent  factors 
in  carrying  on  the  work  of  city,  state  and  nation. 

Professor  Zueblin  said  at  the  great  Boston  biennial,  "  Three 
great  movements  are  shaping  society  at  the  present  day,  the 
political  movement,  the  labor  movement  and  the  woman  move- 
ment. "  This  woman  movement  has  grown  to  be  such  a  tremen- 
dous thing,  since  in  1890  the  General  Federation  grew  out  of  the 
banding  together  the  year  before  of  a  number  of  small,  scat- 
tered, literary  clubs. 

In  the  early  days  of  club  life  the  individual  club  stood  purely 
for  culture,  but  clubs  have  been  gradually  getting  away  from 
that  idea,  and  have  been  broadening  and  reaching  out  until  I 
think  now  they  all  realize  that  in  order  to  be  sucsessful  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word  they  must  stand  for  service  to  hu- 
manity, as  well  as  for  culture.  Clubs  in  America,  of  all  coun- 
tries, should  not  stand  for  selfishness,  for  it  is  the  land  of  ref- 
uge, the  spirit  of  service  is  in  the  very  air  we  breathe.  This 
seems  especially  an  age  when  people  are  trying  to  reach  down 
and  help  those  less  fortunate  than  themselves.  What  grander 
work  can  clubs  and  club  women  engage  in  than  that  of  saving 
our  girls  f  To  protect  the  innocent,  and  to  give  the  unfortunate 
ones  renewed  hope,  a  wider  view  and  a  conception  of  what  life 
may  again  become  to  them. 

The  League  of  Cook  County  Clubs,  comprising  seventy-eight 
clubs  in  Chicago  and  Cook  County,  decided,  a  year  ago,  that 
this  was  as  fine  a  work  as  they  could  do.  This  conclusion  was 
reached  after  a  meeting  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  the 


AMERICA'S  AWAKENING  375 

traffic  in  women  and  girls  in  which  Mr.  Clifford  G.  Roe  was  the 
principal  speaker.  So  vividly  did  he  place  before  the  League 
and  its  delegates  the  existing  condition  in  Chicago  and  the 
State  of  Illinois,  that  they  became  thoroughly  aroused  and  de- 
cided to  help  Mr.  Eoe  in  the  magnificent  fight  he  is  making.  It 
was  moved  to  form  a  committee  consisting  of  the  president  or 
one  member  from  each  club  belonging  to  the  league  to  co-operate 
with  him  in  his  work,  and  it  was  decided  to  appeal  to  the  clubs 
for  financial  aid.  This  resulted  in  a  fine  working  committee  of 
sixty  which  went  under  the  name  of  the  White  Slave  Traffic 
Committee  of  the  League  of  Cook  County  Clubs.  About  three 
hundred  dollars  was  raised  of  which  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars was  turned  over  to  Mr.  Roe  to  help  defray  the  expenses  of 
his  detective  office.  It  costs  six  hundred  dollars  a  month  to 
carry  on  this  work,  so  one  can  readily  see  the  great  need  for 
money  and  enthusiasm.  As  a  little  stone  thrown  into  the  water 
becomes  an  ever  widening  and  increasing  circle  until  the  agita- 
tion may  be  felt  on  some  distant  shore,  so  this  memorable  league 
meeting  has  proved  an  ever  widening  circle  of  influence,  serv- 
ing even  to  arouse  enthusiasm  in  other  states. 

Feeling  that  the  message  Mr.  Roe  had  to  give,  should  not  be 
confined  to  Chicago  or  the  State  of  Illinois,  he  was  invited  to  go 
down  on  the  train  with  the  Illinois  club  women  to  Cincinnati 
last  May  there  to  arouse,  if  possible,  the  club  women  from  all 
over  the  country. 

A  mass  meeting  was  held  in  one  of  the  largest  churches  in  Cin- 
cinnati, in  which  Mr.  Roe  addressed  the  assemblage  and  which 
so  opened  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  that  city  that  steps  were 
immediately  taken  to  form  a  vigilance  committee  to  make  war 
upon  this  traffic  in  Cincinnati. 

From  that  time  on  his  work  has  become  more  and  more  known 
over  the  country. 

We  must  still  work  steadily  upon  this  girl  problem  if  we  are 
to  make  any  lasting  impression,  and  not  when  we  have  made 
one  effort,  sit  back.  Many  mothers  rest  easy,  thinking  their  own 


376  AMERICA'S  AWAKENING 

daughters  are  safe,  but  existing  conditions  are  a  menace  to  even 
the  best  homes. 

It  is  no  longer  a  question  of  delicacy  and  false  modesty,  but  a 
burning  question  that  is  staring  us  in  the  face,  and  one  that  de- 
mands a  solution  from  the  men  and  the  women  of  America. 

Let  us  keep  at  this  great  work  with  unbounded  enthusiasm 
keeping  ever  in  mind  the  saying  of  Goethe's  that:  "He  who 
does  nothing  for  others,  does  nothing  for  himself. ' ' 

The  women  have  learned  that  publicity  and  education  are 
necessary ,  to  loosen  the  chains  of  bondage  which  hold  white 
slaves.  Yes,  and  more  important,  to  prevent  girls  being  made 
slaves  to  vice  and  sin.  An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound 
of  cure.  Therefore  warn  and  enlighten.  Some  sleepy  com- 
munities are  not  awakened  yet. 

In  one  Kansas  town  after  a  speaker  had  told  about  white 
slavery  in  a  church  the  people  formed  a  committee  of  citizens 
and  ordered  him  to  leave  on  the  next  train.  One  of  the  com- 
mittee was  a  bigoted  trustee  of  the  church,  a  narrow-minded 
Sunday  school  teacher,  and  a  leading  business  man.  Perhaps 
that  speaker  was  over  zealous,  too  advanced  and  unduly  bold  in 
his  statements,  but  sooner  or  later  that  town  will  wake  up,  may 
be  not  until  one  of  its  daughters  has  fallen  into  the  white  slave 
trap. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  impressed  upon  all  those  en- 
listed in  the  crusade  against  the  traffic  in  girls,  that  moderate 
statements,  both  in  speech  and  in  print,  will  be  far  more  con 
vincing  than  facts  bold  and  unadorned. 

Many  communities  are  not  yet  ready  for  the  whole  truth. 
They  are  shocked  at  what  they  think  are  brazen  statements. 
Do  not  shock  them,  they  may  not  be  able  to  stand  it.  They 
think  ignorance  is  innocence,  prudery  is  modesty,  hypocrisy  is 
righteousness.  Let  education  along  the  lines  of  true  virtue 
and  purity  filter  through  to  them  slowly  so  that  they  will  be 
able  to  take  it  in  as  it  comes,  and  finally  also  be  enlisted  in  the 
crusade  to  protect  the  purity  of  the  home. 

America's  awakening  has  been  brought  about  by  enlighten- 


AMERICA'S  AWAKENING 


377 


ment  as  to  real,  existing  facts.  Proof  almost  mountain  high 
has  been  piled  up.  Girl  victims  may  have  colored  their  state- 
ments in  some  cases,  panders  may  have  painted  their  fifthy 
bodies  too  black  in  their  confessions,  but  letters  written  in  se- 
cret between  the  white  slave  traders  which  were  intercepted  and 
confiscated  by  government  authorities  tell  the  unvarnished 
truth. 

Here  is  just  one  more  of  these  many  letters  which  ought  to 
convince  even  the  most  dormant,  disinterested  and  nonchalant 
American,  that  America  must  be  awakened  to  protect  the  purity 
of  the  home. 


Such  was  the  address  on  an  envelope  and  such  was  the  post- 
mark. 

It  is  strange  how  crime  will  mysteriously  come  to  the  surface 
sooner  or  later.  This  letter  was  received  by  another  Charles 
Davis  and  the  letter  turned  over  to  the  authorities,  the  con- 
tents of  which  tells  the  reason. 

"St.  Louis,   Mo.,  March  27,   1910. 
Friend  Chas. 

We  got  your  letter  all  O.K.  and  was  pleased  to  hear  from  you  and  that  you 
are  getting  along  all  O.K.  things  is  tough  here  now  for  all  the  gang  they  are 
running  the  Woman  from  first  one  place  and  then  another  and  a  person  dont 
know  what  to  do. 

Yes.  Chas  we  are  still  kicking  the   log  around  but  Stella  quit   throe   days  ago 


378  AMERICA'S  AWAKENING 

and  I  am  going  on  the  medicine  tomorrow  for  it  is  awful  high  now  are  you  sti 
up  aginst  it. 

Chas  a  friend  of  mine  told  me  that  some  of  you  people  wanted  some  Coosi 
sent  up  there  is  some  birds  here  and  I  have  got  2  that  wants  to  leave  here  as 
they  dont  want  to  go  in  a  house  here  on  account  of  there  folks  living  here  and 
they  are  both  swell  lookers  let  me  know  if  you  know  any  one  that  can  place 
them  and  what  is  in  it  for  me  as  times  is  tough  and  I  need  the  mun.  If  the 
price  is  all  O.K.  we  can  do  business  at  once;  the  kid  is  all  O.K  and  sends  best, 
also  Stell,  let  me  hear  from  you  at  once  with  the  particulars  as  I  want  to  land 
this  while  I  can.  I  sent  some  to  Memphis  a  month  ago,  and  the  party  is  full 
just  now. 

Will  close  for  the  present  hoping  to  hear  from  you  soon,  with  best  wishes. 

Yours  Respt.  C.  D." 

When  this  letter  was  turned  over,  detectives  sought  out  the 
Charles  Davis  the  letter  was  intended  for.  Decoy  letters  were 
sent,  but  he  was  not  located  until  nine  months  afterward. 

Stranger  than  fiction  sometimes  is  the  truth.  It  happened,  as 
we  have  seen  in  another  chapter,  that  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber, 1910,  Luella  Williams  was  arrested  for  procuring  a  girl 
from  St.  Louis  for  a  Chicago  resort.  The  Williams  woman 
made  a  confession  and  in  it  she  named  Charles  Davis  as  one  of 
the  men  who  persuaded  her  to  put  the  St.  Louis  girl  in  a  vice 
resort.  Again  Charles  Davis  escaped  because  it  was  learned 
that  as  soon  as  Luella  Williams  was  arrested  Davis  left  Chi- 
cago for  parts  unknown. 

Thus  learning  from  the  secret  messages  of  the  slave  traders 
themselves  that  it  is  true  that  they  are  buying,  selling  and 
placing  girls  in  houses  of  bondage,  America  must  be  awakened. 
The  daughters  of  the  American  people  must  be  protected  from 
such  fellows  as  these. 

Yes,  the  sons  of  Americans  must  be  protected  from  the  vile 
diseases  that  these  fellows  create  and  spread.  Perhaps  no  class 
of  men,  other  than  panders,  are  greater  enemies  to  the  society 
which  feeds  them  and  endures  them  than  are  the  so-called  doc- 
tors who  help  spread  these  diseases  by  dishonest  and  fake 
statements  and  certificates. 

As  a  striking  and  burning  example  of  this  treachery  to  so- 
ciety in  general,  read  the  following  certificates : 


: 


AMERICA'S  AWAKENING  379 

MARY   B.  WHITE,   M.   D. 
100  State  St.,  Chicago. 

To   whom  it  may  concern: 

On  February  18th,  1911,  I  examined  a  young  woman  known  as  Miss  Amber 
at  the  Marcy  Home  Dispensary.  I  found  a  muco  purulent  discharge  from  cervix 
and  vagina. 

On  the  report  from  Dr.  Hedger  of  laboratory  finding  of  gonorrhoea  I  gave 
her  the  vaccine  treatment. 

(Signed)      MARY   B.    WHITE,    M.    D. 


<0  >"*<>*, 


This  girl,  Miss  Amber,  an  inmate  of  a  vice  resort  was  exam- 
ined by  prominent  doctors  both  before  and  after  the  doctor  for 
the  house  of  ill  fame  examined  her  on  February  23,  1911,  and 
February  27, 1911,  and  was  found  to  be  badly  diseased.  There- 
fore, the  resort-employed-doctor  never  made  an  examination, 
or  else  made  a  dishonest  report,  or  was  too  incompetent  to 
know  venereal  disease  when  he  saw  it. 

Such  certificates  have  misled  more  men,  caused  more  anguish 
and  heart  aches  to  both  men  and  women,  caused  more  needless 
operations  to  innocent  wives  and  more  blindness  and  deformities 
to  children  than  any  other  one  cause.  Such  persons,  parading 
under  the  cloak  of  doctors,  are  traitors  to  their  country  and  a 


880  AMERICA'S  AWAKENING 

disgrace  to  the  profession  which  shelters  them.    They  are  de- 
filing the  purity  of  the  American  home. 

In  America's  awakening  let  us  arise  and  eliminate  such  per- 
sons from  society.  When  America  is  truly  awakened  through 
and  through,  cities  all  working  in  unison  for  one  common  cause, 
the  purity  of  the  home,  then  its  arch-enemies,  the  white  slave 
traders  and  their  fellow  conspiritors,  the  quack  doctors,  the 
shyster  lawyers,  the  unscrupulous  business  man,  and  the  cor- 
rupt politicians  and  public  officials  will  be  blotted  out,  and  the 
cloud  upon  the  fair  name  of  America  will  vanish  forever, 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE  CHICAGO  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT. 

Astounding  Facts— Chicago  Spends  $15,000,000  Annually  for  Vice — Protection 
for  Children — Temptations  of  Young  Girls — Help  for  the  Victims — Changes 
Recommended. 

That  America  has  been  truly  awakened  to  its  duty  in  the 
white  slave  war  is  further  evidenced  by  the  many  investiga- 
tions into  vice  conditions  in  various  cities.  This  awakening  as 
has  been  seen  is  due  largely  to  the  astounding  revelations  con- 
cerning the  abominable  business  of  the  traffic  in  girls.  The 
people  are  aroused  and  something  must  be  done.  Therefore, 
in  response  to  the  demands  of  the  people,  vice  commissions  have 
been  appointed  in  cities  all  over  America. 

So  much  had  been  said  about  Chicago  being  a  city  of  vice  and 
the  center  of  the  white  slave  traffic  that  Mayor  Busse  appointed 
on  July  fifth,  1910,  a  Commission  to  investigate  vice  conditions 
in  that  city.  It  was  decided  to  select  a  commission  so  far  as 
possible,  non  partisan,  which  would  not  be  prejudiced  for  or 
against  the  insinuations  concerning  Chicago. 

The  Commission  chosen  was  representative  of  Chicago's  best 
citizenship  from  every  view  point,  and  therefore  its  findings 
are  all  the  more  important  and  authoritative.  After  laboring 
almost  one  year  the  Commission  reported  on  April  fifth,  1911, 
to  the  city  council  the  results  of  the  investigation  which  it  had 
been  quietly  making  since  its  appointment.  The  fact  that  the 
commission  found  deplorable  vice  and  white  slave  traffic  existing 
does  not  show  that  Chicago  is  not  improving  and  growing  bet- 
ter. In  fact  Chicago  has  been  fighting  the  traffic  in  girls  for 
some  years,  and  has  gone  a  long  way  toward  abolishing  it,  and 
the  commission  stated  its  belief  that  in  contrast  Chicago  is  far 
better  proportionately  to  its  population  than  most  of  the  other 
large  cities  in  the  United  States.  This  statement  was  made 

381 


382  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

after  a  careful  study  of  conditions  in  fifty-two  of  the  largest 
cities  of  America. 

But  Chicago  in  cleaning  up  is  bound  to  face  an  array  of  facts 
absolutely  staggering  in  the  f rightfulness  of  the  conditions  they 
reveal,  and  here  they  are: 

Chicago  spends  $15,000,000  annually  for  vice. 

The  traffic  in  women  in  this  city  annually  demands  and  de- 
stroys the  lives  and  souls  of  5,000  young  girls. 

Segregation  is  denounced  by  the  commission  and  this  means 
the  wiping  out  of  the  " levees." 

To  neighboring  cities  which  may  be  able  to  see  nothing  in  the 
report  except  an  indecent  and  ill  advised  exposure  by  Chicago 
of  her  own  shame  the  report  of  the  commission  has  this  to  say : 

'  '  The  investigation  was  not  confined  to  Chicago  only.  It  cov- 
ered fifty- two  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States.  In  many 
of  those  cities  conditions  were  found  to  be  worse  than  they  are 
In  Chicago.  In  some  they  were  found  to  be  better.  As  a  whole 
Chicago  is  a  better  city  morally  than  most  of  the  cities  of  the 
United  States  that  are  in  its  class. ' ' 

REPORT  FACES  ISSUE  SQUARELY. 

The  report  is  scientific  and  dispassionate.  Its  purpose  was 
to  avoid  criticism  and  recrimination  and  to  set  forth  the  facts. 
It  has  avoided  exaggeration  and  sensationalism,  but  it  has  not 
scrupled  to  tell  the  truth  and  the  whole  truth.  It  sets  the  public 
face  to  face  with  the  facts  and  then  appeals  to  the  public  con- 
science: "What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it!" 

Answering  its  own  question  from  the  conclusions  drawn  in  the 
course  of  extensive  investigations,  the  commission  takes  a  stand 
preeminently  American  and  touched  with  a  fine  idealism.  Pros- 
titution, it  says,  can  be  suppressed,  not  in  a  week,  a  month,  or  a 
year,  but  by  persisent  and  intelligent  effort  through  a  long  pe- 
riod of  years.  The  report  expressly  repudiates  the  cynical  Eu- 
ropean theory  that  the  social  evil  always  has  existed  and  always 
must  exist,  and  that  segregation  is  the  only  remedy. 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  383 

"Constant  and  persistent  repression, "  it  says,  "must  be  the 
immediate  method;  absolute  annihilation  the  ultimate  ideal. " 

TELLS  HOW  WORK  CAN  BE  DONE. 

For  the  immediate  initiation  of  the  policy  thus  set  forth  the 
commission  last  night  made  two  recommendations.  They  were 
embodied  in  ordinances  submitted  to  the  council  with  the  re- 
port and  are  as  follows: 

First — The  appointment  of  a  morals  commission. 

Second — The  establishment  of  a  morals  court. 

The  full  report  containing  over  three  hundred  and  fifty  pages 
of  data  and  statistics  cannot  be  set  forth  here,  but  the  most  im- 
portant parts  will  be  given  in  this  chapter. 

A  startling  expos£  is  made  by  the  commission  of  the  sale  of  drugs  in  the  vice 
districts.  The  report  states  that  four  drug  stores  in  one  of  the  vice  districts 
sell  four  pounds  of  morphine  and  six  ounces  of  cocaine  each  per  week.  No  drug 
store  in  the  city  outside  the  vice  district  sells  more  than  four  ounces  of  morphine 
and  three  drams  of  cocaine  in  a  week.  The  druggists,  to  foil  police  investigation, 
order  their  drugs  from  various  wholesale  houses,  and,  in  many  cases,  direct  from 
the  manufacturers. 

The  investigators  of  the  commission  found  that  the  girls  in  the  vice  districts 
are  more  addicted  to  the  use  of  morphine  than  cocaine.  The  startling  discovery 
also  was  made  by  the  investigators  that  in  many  cases  doctors  traded  in  the 
drugs  and  supplied  the  girls  with  the  poison. 

DETAILS    OP    THE    REPORT. 

The  report,  dealing  first  with  the  necessity  for  a  change  from  the  existing 
system  of  dealing  with  the  vice  problem  in  Chicago,  says: 

"We  believe  that  Chicago  has  a  public  conscience  which,  when  aroused,  cannot 
be  easily  stilled — a  conscience  built  upon  moral  and  ethical  teachings  of  the 
purest  American  type — a  conscience  which,  when  aroused  to  the  truth,  will 
instantly  rebel  against  the  social  evil  in  all  its  phases. 

"Some  who  have  superficial  knowledge  of  the  'continental  system'  of  segre- 
gation and  regulation,  based  on  a  cursory  reading  or  surface  investigation,  might 
bring  it  forward  as  a  method  of  relief.  One  has  but  to  read  scientific  works  on 
the  subject,  to  study  the  reports  of  international  conferences  held  in  Europe,  and 
to  hear  the  findings  of  careful  investigators  to  see  the  unreliability  and  futility 
of  such  a  system,  and  to  learn  of  its  failures  as  a  permanent  institution  wher- 
ever it  has  been  undertaken,  in  this  country  or  abroad.  The  commission  is  con- 
vinced that  the  so-called  system  has  proved  itself  degenerating  and  ineffective. 


384  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

AMERICANS   ABHOR  SEGREGATION. 

"Furthermore,,  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  citizens  of  Chicago  and  the 
fathers  and  mothers  of  its  children  never  will  countenance  the  recognition  or 
legalization  of  a  commercial  business,  which  spells  only  ruin  to  the  race.  It  is, 
therefore,  incumbent  upon  us  to  take  a  bold  stand  against  this  curse  of  society. 
It  behooves  us  to  raise  social  life  to  the  highest  possible  standard  of  righteous- 
ness— to  teach  the  youth  of  our  land  loyalty  and  honor  to  womanhood. 

"The  immensity  of  the  social  evil  problem  is  no  excuse  for  us  to  stand  idly 
by  and  do  nothing  in  an  attempt  to  solve  it.  The  sin  of  impurity  may  not  be 
cured  in  a  day,  a  year,  or  perhaps  in  generations.  But  we  assume  that  by 
earnest,  wise,  united,  and  persistent  effort  on  the  part  of  individuals  and  organ- 
ized groups  in  society  we  can  do  something — how  much  we  can  only  discover  by 
trial.  To  say  we  can  do  nothing  may  be  left  to  the  morally  inert;  of  course, 
they  can  do  nothing — but  evil. 

"We  may  enact  laws;  we  may  appoint  commissions;  we  may  abuse  civic 
administrations  for  their  handling  of  the  problem;  but  the  problem  will  remain 
just  as  long  as  the  public  conscience  is  dead  to  the  issue  or  is  indifferent  to  its 
solution. 

RELIGION  MUST  CURB  MEN. 

"Until  the  hearts  of  men  are  changed  we  can  hope  for  no  absolute  annihilation 
of  the  social  evil.  Religion  and  education  alone  can  correct  the  greatest  curse 
which  today  rests  upon  mankind.  For  this  there  is  a  mighty  work  for  agencies 
and  institutions  of  righteousness  in  our  land. 

"With  these  facts  in  mind  the  commission  has  squarely  faced  the  problem.  It 
has  tried  to  do  its  duty  by  placing  before  the  public  the  true  situation  in 
Chicago.  It  presents  recommendations  carefully  and  conscientiously  drawn. 

"Throughout  this  report  the  commission  has  made  every  effort  to  publish 
only  such  results  as  would  give  the  municipality  a  correct  and  unexaggerated 
idea  of  conditions. 

"Its  statements  are  not  made  to  bring  discredit  upon  the  city.  Without  seek- 
ing to  condemn  other  cities,  the  commission  desires  to  state  its  belief  that,  in 
contrast,  Chicago  is  far  better  proportionately  to  its  population  than  most  of  the 
other  large  cities  of  the  country.  This  statement  is  made  after  a  careful  study 
of  conditions  in  fifty-two  of  the  largest  cities  of  the  country — a  study  based  on 
the  replies  received  from,  first,  the  city  clerk;  second,  the  head  of  the  health 
department,  and  third,  the  superintendent  of  police  in  these  fifty-two  munici- 
palities. In  addition,  personal  investigation  by  the  commission  was  conducted 
in  some  fifteen  of  the  largest  of  these  cities.  Much  data  is  in  the  possession 
of  the  commission  showing  the  conditions  existing  elsewhere  upon  which  to 
base  its  conclusions. 

OFFICIALS  ARE  NOT  CRITICISED. 

"The  commission  has  refrained  from  unnecessary  criticism  of  public  officials. 
Present  day  conditions  are  better  in  respect  to  open  vice  than  the  city  has  known 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  385 

in  many  years.  But  they  are  by  no  means  a  credit  to  Chicago.  However,  this 
must  be  remembered:  they  are  not  unique  in  the  history  of  the  city.  Present 
day  public  officials  are  no  more  lax  in  their  handling  of  the  problem  than  their 
predecessors  for  years;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  regulations  respecting  flagrant  and 
open  prostitution  under  the  present  police  administration  are  more  strict  in  tone 
and  repressive  in  execution  than  have  been  issued  or  put  in  operation  for  many 
years. 

"No  one  will  doubt  that  in  many  instances  such  an  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  public  and  their  officials  leads  to  the  breaking  down  of  the  morale  of  the 
police.  But  to  make  the  sweeping  statement  of  general  inefficiency  and  dishonesty 
would  be  unjust  to  a  large  number  of  men  endeavoring  to  do  their  duty.  The 
commission  believes,  therefore,  that  the  large  majority  of  the  police  are  honest 
and  efficient;  it  believes  that  some  are  neither  honest  nor  efficient.  For  the 
former  it  has  the  warmest  praise — for  the  latter  it  has  the  most  severe  con- 
demnation. 

"As  stated,  the  commission  does  not  condemn  the  personnel  of  the  police  as 
a  whole,  but  it  does  condemn  the  system — a  system  which  has  grown  notoriously 
inactive  in  the  handling  of  the  social  evil,  partly  because  of  the  tolerative  atti- 
tude of  the  citizens  of  Chicago,  and  partly  because  of  its  own  desire  to  perpetuate 
itself  as  a  system;  a  system  which  makes  it  easier  for  the  police  to  accept  graft 
from  the  tremendous  profits  reaped  from  the  sale  in  women's  bodies  than  honestly 
to  do  their  duty.  All  credit  to  the  great  body  of  men  who  have  withstood  these 
temptations,  and  who  some  day  will  find  a  condition  where  their  courage  will  be 
amply  rewarded. 

"To  the  Hon.  Fred  A.  Busse,  mayor  of  Chicago,  belongs  the  honor  and  dis- 
tinction of  having  appointed  this,  the  first  municipal  commission  to  study  the 
existing  conditions  of  a  great  city  respecting  vice  and  to  report  such  recommenda- 
tions as  it  may  deem  advisable  for  the  suppression  thereof. 

"This  fact  in  itself  speaks  more  forcibly  than  any  mere  words  of  appreciation 
which  this  commission  might  offer  for  the  honor  and  privilege  extended  to  its 
members. 

"Credit  likewise  belongs  to  the  members  of  the  city  council,  in  that  they 
unanimously  concurred  in  the  recommendation  of  the  mayor  and  appropriated 
the  funds  used  in  the  preparation  ;md  the  printing  of  this  report. 

NO   POWERS    OF   PROSECUTION. 

"The  commission  is  an  investigating  and  not  a  prosecuting  body.  The  ordi- 
nance by  which  created  gave  it  no  powers  of  prosecution,  and  specifically  stated  tin- 
object  in  view  to  be  to  obtain  the  results  of  a  scientific  study  of  existing  con- 
ditions and  to  point  out  methods  of  relief  for  such. 

"The  commission  has  carefully  omitted  from  the  report  all  names  of  offenders 
against  the  law,  as  well  as  addresses.  It  also  has  refrained  from  publishing  the 
numbers  of  police  officers  who  have  been  actually  seen  violating  police  rules 
regarding  conduct  while  on  duty  as  well  as  overlooking  the  violation  of  the  law 
and  of  police  regulations.  In  place  of  these  the  commission  has  used  the  letter 


386  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

%'   with   a  number    following.      These    definite    addresses,    names,    and   numbers, 
however,  are  on  file  in  the  records  of  the  commission. 

"Unfortunately,  there  are  two  standards  of  morality  in  Chicago.  One  standard 
permits  and  applauds  dances  by  women  almost  naked  in  certain  public  places 
under  the  guise  of  art,  and  condemns  dances  no  worse  before  audiences  from  the 
less  prosperous  walks  of  life.  This  same  hypocritical  attitude  drives  the  un- 
fortunate and  often  poverty  stricken  prostitute  from  the  street,  and  at  the  same 
time  tolerates  and  often  welcomes  the  silken  clad  prostitute  in  the  public 
drinking  places  of  several  of  the  most  pretentious  hotels  and  restaurants  of 
the  city. 

PROFITS  $15,000,000  A  YEAR. 

"The  first  truth  that  the  commission  desires  to  impress  upon  the  citizens  of 
Chicago  is  the  fact  that  prostitution  in  this  city  is  a  commercialized  business 
of  large  proportions  with  tremendous  profits  of  more  than  $15,000,000  per  year, 
controlled  largely  by  men,  not  women.  Separate  the  male  exploiter  from  the 
problem,  and  we  minimize  its  extent  and  abate  its  flagrant  outward  expression. 

"In  juxtaposition  with  this  group  of  professional  male  exploiters,  stand  osten- 
sibly respectable  citizens,  both  men  and  women,  who  are  openly  renting  and 
leasing  property  for  exorbitant  sums,  and  thus  sharing,  through  immorality  of 
investments,  the  profits  from  this  business,  a  business  which  demands  a  supply 
of  5,000  souls  from  year  to  year  to  satisfy  the  lust  and  greed  of  men  in  this 
city  alone. 

"Practically  no  attempt  has  been  made  in  Chicago  to  enforce  the  present 
laws.  In  place  of  enforcing  the  law  the  police  have  been  allowed  to  adopt  arbi- 
trary rules  and  uncertain  regulations  of  their  own,  whereby  certain  sections  of 
the  city  have  become  restricted  districts.  Here  they  established  their  own  regu- 
lations which  were  without  adequate  legal  foundation.  We  have,  then,  a  com- 
bined administrative  and  legislative  power  in  the  hands  of  a  department  of  the 
local  government,  which,  in  turn,  is  in  closest  touch  with,  and  influenced  by,  the 
political  influences  of  the  city." 

EVIL  HOTELS  ARE  ATTACKED. 

The  report,  after  stating  the  number  of  women  regularly  involved  in  the 
traffic  under  consideration  to  be  5,000,  attacks  assignation  hotels  down  town  and  on 
principal  streets  leading  to  the  three  sides  of  town  as  "one  of  the  greatest 
menaces  to  young  people  and  an  evil  for  which  there  is  no  excuse  and  for  which 
there  should  be  no  room  in  Chicago." 

It  is  also  found  that  the  most  dangerous  immoral  influence  and  most  important 
financial  interest  aside  from  regular  disorderly  houses  are  the  disorderly  saloons, 
admitting  women.  Four  hundred  and  forty-five  such  saloons  were  listed  in  the 
city  and  92  unescorted  women  were  found  in  them  during  the  investigation. 

Another  feature  of  the  vicious  saloons  that  is  pointed  out  is  the  vaudeville  show 
of  improper  nature  conducted  in  rear  rooms. 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  387 

PROTECTION  FOR  CHILDREN. 

Then  the  report  takes  up  the  question  of  protection  of  children  and  it  states: 

"We  often  forget  that  society  owes  much  to  the  protection  of  the  children. 
Those  of  mature  years  can  be  left  generally  to  guard  themselves;  but  in  the  case 
of  youth  and  ignorance,  society  must  take  the  part  of  the  elder  brother,  and  in 
many  cases  the  part  of  the  father  aa  an  educator  and  guardian. 

"From  its  study  of  existing  conditions  in  Chicago  the  commission  feels  that  if 
there  is  to  be  any  permanent  gain  in  the  fight  against  the  social  evil  in  this  city 
much  care  and  thought  must  be  given  the  problem  of  child  protection  and  education. 
Children  in  certain  sections  of  the  city  are  surrounded  by  many  immoral  influences 
and  dangers.  They  are  compelled  by  reason  of  poverty  to  live  within,  or  in  close 
proximity  to,  restricted  prostitute  districts.  Even  in  residential  sections  children 
come  in  contact  with  immoral  persons,  and  gain  an  early  knowledge  of  things  which 
may  influence  their  whole  life  and  guide  them  in  the  wrong  direction. 

"One  of  the  sad  spectacles  in  this  great  city  is  the  night  children  who  sell  gum, 
candy,  and  papers  on  the  streets.  Through  small  habits  learned  by  loitering  near 
saloons,  and  even  in  the  rear  rooms  frequented  by  vile  persons,  they  become  familiar 
with  the  vulgarity  and  immorality  of  the  street  and  learn  their  language  and  their 
ways  of  life.  That  children  should  be  kept  off  the  streets  at  night  by  the  police 
and  that  parents  should  be  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  most  strict  super- 
vision of  the  child's  recreational  hours,  are  two  matters  of  the  greatest  moment  in 
the  protection  of  the  child. 

"The  investigations  by  the  commission  show  that  messengers  and  newsboys  have 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  the  underworld.  Their  moral  sense  is  so 
blunted  as  to  be  absolutely  blind  to  the  degradation  of  women  and  the  vile  influ- 
ence of  vicious  men. 

"The  commission  heartily  indorses  all  attempts  to  provide  healthful  and  care- 
fully guarded  places  of  recreation  for  the  children.  It  does  not  sympathize  with 
those  who  simply  stand  by  to  criticize  without  doing  anything  in  a  constructive 
way  to  provide  something  wholesome  for  that  which  may  demoralize.  Children  must 
and  should  have  amusement  and  recreation,  and  they  will  find  it  in  some  way.  Let 
Chicago  increase  her  small  parks  and  recreation  centers.  Let  the  churches  give  of 
their  facilities  to  provide  amusement  for  children.  Let  the  board  of  education  ex- 
tend its  efforts  in  establishing  more  social  centers  in  the  public  schools.  Let  the 
city  provide  clean  dances,  well  chaperoned — as  they  are  now  in  the  public  schools." 

URGES  TEACHING  SEX  HYGIENE. 

The  report  urges  the  wise  teaching  of  sex  hygiene  in  the  schools  as  a  means  of 
child  protection  for  the  future. 

The  situation  in  colored  people's  communities  in  Chicago  is  then  discussed.  "In- 
variably," it  is  stated,  "the  larger  vice  districts  have  been  created  within  or  near 
the  settlements  of  colored  people.  In  the  past  history  of  the  city,  nearly  every  time 
a  new  vice  district  was  created  downtown  or  on  the  south  side,  the  colored  families 
were  in  the  district,  moving  in  just  ahead  of  the  prostitutes.  The  situation  along 
State  street  from  Sixteenth  street  south  is  an  illustration. 


388  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

"A  former  chief  of  police  gave  out  a  semi-official  statement  to  the  effect  that  so 
long  as  this  degenerate  group  of  persons  confined  their  residence  to  districts  west 
of  Wabash  avenue  and  east  of  Wentworth  avenue  they  would  not  be  apprehended. 
This  part  of  the  city  is  the  largest  residence  section  of  colored  families.  Their 
churches,  Sunday  schools,  and  societies  are  within  these  boundaries. 

NEGRO  GIRLS  DRIVEN  TO  EVIL. 

"In  addition  to  this  proximity  to  immoral  conditions  young  colored  girls  are  often 
forced  into  idleness  because  of  a  prejudice  against  them,  and  they  are  eventually 
forced  to  accept  positions  as  maids  in  houses  of  prostitution. 

"Employment  agents  do  not  hesitate  to  send  colored  girls  as  servants  to  these 
houses.  They  make  the  astounding  statement  that  the  law  does  not  allow  them  to 
send  white  girls  but  they  will  furnish  colored  help! 

"The  apparent  discrimination  against  the  colored  citizens  of  the  city  in  permitting 
vice  to  be  set  down  in  their  midst  is  unjust  and  abhorrent  to  all  fair  minded  people. 
Colored  children  should  receive  the  same  moral  protection  that  white  children  re- 
ceive." 

The  question  of  supply  to  the  demands  of  the  social  evil  is  discussed  and  the 
danger  to  immigrant  women  is  emphasized.  The  report  says: 

"The  white  slave  act  recently  passed  by  congress  has  been  most  effective  in 
minimizing  the  traffic  in  foreign  women.  Much  needs  to  be  done,  however,  to  pro- 
tect the  innocent  immigrant  who  is  betrayed  and  led  into  an  immoral  life  after 
landing  in  New  York  or  elsewhere. 

"The  care  of  immigrant  women  upon  their  arrival  in  Chicago  needs  supervision. 
Immigrant  girls  should  not  be  left  to  private  expressmen  and  cab  drivers,  to  be 
lost  to  their  relatives  and  friends  in  the  city  because  of  incorrect  addresses  or  the 
carelessness  or  vicious  intent  of  the  drivers. 

BAD    HOMES    A   CAUSE. 

"The  subject  of  'supply'  should  bring  forward  most  prominently,  too,  the  fact 
that  the  supply  comes  largely  from  bad  home  conditions  anv.  lack  of  recreational 
privileges.  In  a  large  number  of  cases  investigated  the  home  conditions  have  con- 
tributed to,  if  not  caused,  the  downfall  of  many  a  wife  and  daughter. 

"Statements  are  often  made,  and  in  some  instances  warranted  by  facts,  that 
the  excessive  demands  upon  the  mother  because  of  a  large  family  of  children,  with- 
out sufficient  income  or  help  to  care  for  them,  is  also  the  occasion  for  many  neg- 
lected children  going  astray. 

"The  statement  is  also  made  and  supported  by  facts,  learned  from  long  and 
faithful  experience  in  caring  for  dependent  and  delinquent  children,  that  more  de- 
linquent girls  come  from  small  families  where  they  are  spoiled  than  from  large 
families  where  there  may  be  poverty,  but  a  sort  of  unconscious  protective  union 
oLJihe  children  shielding  one  another. 

"The  subject  of  the  so-called  white  slave  traffic  has  attracted  much  attention 
throughout  this  and  foreign  countries.  The  term  'white  slave*  is  a  misnomer.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  traffic  is  not  confined  to  white  girls,  but  to  all  unfortunate 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  389 

girls  or  women  of  all  colors,  races,  and  nationalities.  The  use  of  this  term,  however, 
is  authorized  by  the  national  government  and  was  incorporated  in  the  international 
law  on  the  subject. 

WHITE  SLAVERS  UNORGANIZED. 

"It  has  been  demonstrated  that  men  and  women  engaged  in  the  'white  slave 
traffic'  are  not  organized.  Their  operations,  however,  are  so  similar  and  they  use 
the  same  methods  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  safe  to  infer  that  they  are  in  some 
way  working  together. 

"The  vice  commission,  after  exhaustive  consideration  of  the  vice  question,  records 
itself  of  opinion  that  divorce  to  a  large  extent  is  a  contributory  factor  to  vice.  No 
study  of  this  blight  upon  the  social  and  moral  life  of  the  country  would  be  com- 
prehensive without  consideration  of  the  causes  which  lead  to  the  application  for 
divorce.  These  are  too  numerous  to  mention  at  length  in  such  a  report  as  this, 
but  the  commission  does  wish  to  emphasize  the  great  need  of  more  safeguards 
against  the  marrying  of  persons  physically,  mentally,  and  mprally  unfit  to  take 
up  the  responsibilities  of  family  life,  including  the  bearing  of  children. 

"As  to  the  economic  side  of  the  question — the  life  of  an  unprotected  girl  who 
tries  to  make  a  living  in  a  great  city  is  full  of  torturing  temptations.  First,  she 
faces  the  problem  of  living  on  an  inadequate  wage — six  dollars  a  week  is  the 
average  in  the  mercantile  establishments.  If  she  were  living  at  home  where  the 
mother  and  sister  could  help  her  with  mending,  sewing,  and  washing,  where  her 
board  would  be  small — perhaps  only  a  dollar  or  two  towards  the  burden  carried  by 
the  other  members  of  the  family — where  her  lunch  would  come  from  the  family 
larder,  then  her  condition  might  be  as  good  as  if  she  earned  eight  dollars  a  week. 

TEMPTATIONS  OF  YOUNG  GIRLS. 

"The  girl  who  has  no  home  soon  learns  of  'city  poverty,'  all  the  more  cruel  to 
her  because  of  the  artificial  contrasts.  She  quickly  learns  of  the  possibilities  about 
her,  of  the  joys  of  comfort,  good  food,  entertainment,  attractive  clothes.  Poverty 
becomes  a  menace  and  a  snare.  One  who  has  not  beheld  the  struggle  or  come  in 
personal  contact  with  the  tempted  soul  of  the  underpaid  girl  can  never  realize 
what  the  poverty  of  the  city  means  to  her.  One  who  has  never  seen  her  bravely 
fighting  against  such  fearful  odds  will  never  understand.  A  day's  sickness  and  a 
week  out  of  work  are  tragedies  in  her  life.  They  mean  trips  to  the  pawnbrokers, 
meager  dinners,  a  weakened  will,  often  a  plunge  into  the  abyss  from  which  she  BO 
often  never  escapes. 

"Hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  girls  from  country  towns,  and  those  born  in 
the  city  but  who  have  been  thrown  on  their  own  resources,  are  compelled  to  live  in 
cheap  boarding  or  rooming  houses  on  the  average  wage  of  $6.  How  do  they  exist 
on  this  sum?  It  is  impossible  to  figure  it  out  on  a  mathematical  basis.  If  the 
wage  were  $8  a  week  and  the  girl  paid  $2.50  for  her  room,  $1  for  laundry,  and  60 
cents  for  car  fare,  she  would  have  less  than  50  cents  left  at  the  end  of  the  week. 

"That  is,  provided  she  ate  10  cent  breakfasts,  15  cents  luncheons,  and  25  cent 
dinners.  But  there  ia  no  doubt  that  many  girls  do  live  on  even  $6  and  do  it  hon- 


390  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

estly,  but  we  can  affirm  that  they  do  not  have  nourishing  food,  or  comfortable 
shelter,  or  warm  clothes,  or  any  amusement,  except  perhaps  free  public  dances, 
without  outside  help,  either  from  charity  in  the  shape  of  girls'  clubs,  or  friends  in 
the  country  home.  How  can  she  possibly  exist,  to  say  nothing  of  live? 

VICE  A  GOOD  PAYMASTER. 

"!B  it  any  wonder  that  a  tempted  girl  who  receives  only  $6  a  week  working 
with  her  hands  sells  her  body  for  $25  a  week  when  she  learns  there  is  a  demand  for 
it  and  men  are  willing  to  pay  the  price?  On  the  one  hand  her  employer  demands 
honesty,  faithfulness,  and  a  'clean  and  neat  appearance/  and  for  all  this  he  con- 
tributes from  his  profits  an  average  of  $6  for  every  week. 

"Her  honesty  alone  is  worth  this  inadequate  wage,  disregarding  the  considera- 
tion of  her  efficiency.  In  the  sad  life  of  prostitution,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
here  the  employer,  demanding  the  surrender  of  her  virtue,  pays  her  an  average  of 
$25  a  week. 

"Which  employer  wins  the  half  starved  child  to  his  side  in  this  unequal  battle? 
It  would  be  unjust,  however,  to  cast  any  reflection  upon  those  girls  who  are  brave 
and  pure,  by  intimating  that  because  they  earn  so  small  a  wage  they  must  neces- 
sarily be  in  the  same  class  with  those  other  girls  who,  unable  to  survive  longer  the 
heroic  battle  against  poverty  and  self-sacrifice,  have  succumbed  and  gone  down. 

HELP  FOR  THE  VICTIMS. 

"How  can  these  unfortunate  women  be  helped  and  saved  to  society?  Some  well 
meaning  persons  declare  that  they  should  be  left  to  their  fate;  that  they  are 
criminals,  and  should  be  treated  as  such.  The  commission  does  not  feel  that  this 
is  an  answer  to  the  problem.  They  are  human  beings  still,  stumbling  for  a  time 
in  the  depths  of  sin  and  shame,  but  notwithstanding  how  low  they  have  sunken  in 
the  social  scale,  they  can  be  rescued,  if  by  some  method  they  can  be  made  to  feel 
the  touch  of  divine  sympathy  and  human  love. 

"No  doubt,  during  the  coming  months  many  of  these  women,  now  in  houses, 
and  in  the  streets,  and  in  the  saloons,  will  be  cut  loose  from  their  surroundings  by 
the  effective  operation  of  the  law.  Some  wise  provision  must  be  made  to  help 
them.  To  put  them  in  prison  with  no  provisions  for  their  spiritual  or  physical 
needs  would  only  tend  to  degrade  them  still  lower  and  send  them  back  to  a  life 
of  shame  in  some  other  community  in  a  worse  condition  than  they  were  before. 

CARE  FOR  FIRST  OFFENDERS. 

"First  offenders,  especially,  instead  of  being  fined  or  imprisoned,  should  be 
placed  on  probation  under  the  care  of  intelligent  and  sympathetic  women  officially 
connected  with  the  court. 

"Old  and  hardened  offenders  should  be  sent  to  an  industrial  farm  with  hospi- 
tal accommodations  on  an  indeterminate  sentence.  Obviously  it  is  necessary  that 
some  such  measures  of-  almost  drastic  control  should  obtain  if  such  women  are  to 
be  permanently  helped  and  society  served." 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  391 

The  commission  addresses  a  word  to  men: 

"It  is  a  man  and  not  a  woman  problem  which  we  face  today — commercialized 
by  man — supported  by  man — the  supply  of  fresh  victims  furnished  by  men  who 
have  lost  that  fine  instinct  of  chivalry  and  that  splendid  honor  for  womanhood 
where  the  destruction  of  a  woman's  soul  is  abhorrent,  and  where  the  defense  of  a 
woman's  purity  is  truly  the  occasion  for  a  valiant  fight." 

CHANGES  RECOMMENDED. 

The  commission  presents,  among  others,  the  following  recommendations: 

"To  federal  authorities:  A  federal  bureau  of  immigration  should  be  established 
in  great  distributive  centers,  such  as  Chicago,  to  provide  for  the  safe  conduct  of 
immigrants  from  ports  of  entry  to  their  destination.  Efficient  legislation  should  be 
enacted  and  present  laws  enforced  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  the  traffic  in  women 
within  the  boundaries  of  each  state,  and  as  thoroughly,  as  the  federal  authorities 
have  dealt  with  the  international  traffic. 

"The  owners  of  lake  steamers  should  exercise  more  vigilance  enforcing  their 
rules.  The  sale  of  intoxicating  liquor  to  minors  should  be  absolutely  prohibited  on 
lake  steamers.  All  gambling  devices  should  be  suppressed  on  lake  steamers. 

"The  commission  condemns  the  ease  with  which  divorces  may  be  obtained  in 
certain  states,  and  recommends  a  stringent,  uniform  divorce  law  for  all  states. 

WORK  FOR  ILLINOIS  TO  DO. 

"To  the  state  authorities: 

"We  recommend  that  the  state  authorities,  the  Chicago  Medical  Society,  or  the 
morals  commission  investigate  and  report  on  midwives,  advertised  maternity  hos- 
pitals, medical  advertisements,  advertising  doctors,  and  regular  physicians  who  are 
suspected  or  known  to  be  illegal  practitioners. 

"Physicians  who  advertise  treatment  and  cure  of  such  diseases  should  come 
under  the  provisions  of  section  12,  chapter  91,  of  the  Illinois  revised  statutes,  provid- 
ing for  the  licensing  of  itinerant  physicians. 

"We  recommend  that  the  state  authorities  or  the  morals  commission  conduct  an 
investigation  of  employment  agencies  and  the  advertisements  of  employment  agents 
who  advertise  in  Chicago  papers  published  in  foreign  languages. 

"We  recommend  the  enactment  of  a  new  Illinois  law  providing  that  medical 
certificates  must  be  secured  showing  bearer  is  free  from  certain  diseases  before  a 
marriage  license  can  be  issued. 

TO  REGULATE  MESSENGERS. 

"We  recommend  the  enactment  of  state  laws  and  cfty  ordinances  whereby  a 
disorderly  house  may  be  declared  a  public  nuisance,  and  containing  provisions  ex- 
pressly giving  to  any  citizen  the  right  to  institute  simple  and  summary  proceed- 
ings in  equity  for  the  abatement  of  the  nuisance. 

"We  recommend  the  enactment  of  such  legislation  as  will  empower  the  com- 


392  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

missioner  of  health,  after  due  investigation,  to  declare  any  such  house  a  place  of 
contagious  disease  and  to  order  same  closed  and  abandoned. 

"There  should  be  a  relentless  prosecution  and  punishment  of  professional  pro- 
curers, all  keepers  and  inmates  of  existing  disorderly  houses,  as  well  as  owners  of 
the  property  rented  or  leased  for  immoral  purposes. 

"An  identification  system  should  be  established  in  the  state  courts.  In  dealing 
with  prostitution  fines  should  be  abolished  and  imprisonment  or  an  adult  probation 
system  substituted. 

"A  law  should  be  enacted  providing  a  penalty  against  any  corporation  or  per- 
son employing  messenger  boys,  or  knowingly  sending  any  messenger  boy  under  21 
years  of  age  to  any  disorderly  house,  unlicensed  saloon,  inn,  tavern,  or  other  un- 
licensed place  where  malt  or  spirituous  liquors  or  wines  are  sold,  on  any  errand  or 
business  whatsoever. 

ANOTHER  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS. 

"We  recommend  that  immediate  legislation  be  sought  to  establish  a  second 
school  for  wayward  girls  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  said  institution  to  be  established 
in  some  other  part  of  the  state,  rather  than  to  extend  the  institution  at  Geneva. 
The  latter  institution  is  overcrowded  and  the  numbers  there  are  all  that  can  be 
governed  satisfactorily  by  one  superintendent. 

"We  recommend  legislation  providing  for  the  organization  of  a  sympathetic 
agency  with  paid  agents  who  have  followed  a  special  instruction,  and  who  would 
be  charged  with  the  regular  supervision  of  the  children  of  unmarried  mothers. 

"To  county  officials: 

"We  recommend  the  appointment  of  a  permanent  committee  on  child  protection, 
with  ample  funds  from  the  county  treasury. 

"To  city  authorities: 

"We  recommend  that  the  city  council  of  Chicago  enact  an  ordinance  creating 
a  commission  to  be  known  as  the  morals  commission. 

"Enforce  the  laws  and  regulations,  especially  those  prohibiting  the  harboring 
of  disorderly  persons  in  saloons;  prohibiting  wine-rooms  and  stalls  in  saloons; 
prohibiting  assignation  rooms  and  'hotels'  in  connection  with  saloons;  prohibiting 
dances  in  buildings  where  there  is  a  saloon. 

NEW  RULES  FOR  POLICE. 

"To  this  end  maintain  a  strict  surveillance  of  the  police;  discharge  policemen 
who  are  guilty  of  gross  or  petty  graft  in  their  relation  with  the  saloons;  make 
frequent  rotation  of  policemen;  provide  investigation  of  complaints  within  twenty- 
four  hours  by  picked  men  taken  from  'outside'  districts. 

"By  any  proper  means,  especially  by  publicity,  put  pressure  upon  the  Brewers' 
exchange  and  the  Wholesale  Liquor  Dealers'  association  members  doing  business 
with  saloons  which  violate  the  laws  or  regulations  referred  to,  or  who  are,  as  bonds- 
men, responsible  for  such  saloons. 

"Licenses  of  saloons  that  violate  these  laws  or  regulations  should  be  perma- 
nently, not  temporarily,  revoked. 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  393 

"No  women  without  male  escort  should  be  permitted  in  saloons.  No  profes- 
sional or  paid  escorts  for  women  should  be  permitted  in  any  saloon. 

"The  ordinances  prohibiting  winerooms  should  be  strictly  enforced,  and  any  at- 
tempt to  provide  booths,  screens,  or  curtains  about  tables  in  rear  rooms  of  saloons 
should  be  immediately  suppressed. 

"We  recommend  that  no  intoxicating  liquor  be  sold  at  any  public  dance. 

"A  municipal  detention  home  for  women  should  be  established,  controlled  by 
probation  officers. 

WANT   MUNICIPAL   DANCE   HALLS. 

"Municipal  dance  halls  should  be  established,  properly  policed  and  supervised. 
A  municipal  lodging  house  should  be  established  for  women.  We  recommend  that 
the  municipality  secure  a  farm  on  which  a  trade  school  and  hospital  could  be  es- 
tablished, to  which  professional  prostitutes  could  be  committed  on  an  indeterminate 
sentence. 

'To  the  corporation  counsel:  The  city  ordinances  relating  to  houses  of  prosti- 
tution should  be  enforced.  The  city  ordinances  prohibiting  advertisements  pur- 
porting to  treat  and  cure  diseases  should  be  enforced.  Daily  papers  that  publish 
such  advertisements  should  be  prosecuted. 

"To  the   police   department: 

"Accurate  monthly  reports  on  all  places  in  Chicago  where  immoral  and  dissolute 
persons  congregate  should  be  made  to  the  superintendent  of  police  by  inspectors. 

"If  any  inspector,  captain,  or  officer  fails  so  to  report  he  should  be  reduced  in 
rank  or  dismissed  from  the  service. 

"A  special  morals  police  squad  should  form  a  part  of  the  police  force  of  the 
city.  We  recommend  that  women  officers  be  added  to  the  police  force,  whose  duty 
should  be  to  render  assistance  to  women  or  girls  throughout  the  city,  especially 
at  all  railroad  stations  or  other  places  where  inexperienced  women  are  liable  to 
need  help.  We  also  recommend  that  some  of  these  women  officers  be  able  to  speak 
foreign  languages. 

HEALTH  REGULATIONS. 

"To  the  department  of  health: 

"We  recommend  that  the  department  of  health  investigate  and  report  the  ex- 
tent of  contagious  diseases  in  Chicago  each  year,  together  with  the  sources  of  in- 
fection, the  practice  of  midwifery,  with  such  recommendations  looking  to  its  im- 
provement as  may  be  deemed  proper;  institute  a  rigid  investigation  into  the  use 
of  cocaine  and  other  noxious  drugs,  with  a  view  at  least  of  limiting  such  sales 
by  the  druggists;  direct  especial  attention  to  so-called  massage  practice,  and  b« 
given  power  to  suppress  as  a  public  nuisance  any  place  where  contagious  diseases 
flourish. 

"To  the  board  of  education: 

"We  recommend  that  the  board  of  education  appoint  a  committee  to  investigate 
thoroughly  the  advisability  and  methods  of  teaching  social  hygiene  to  the  older 
pupils  in  the  public  schools. 


394  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

"Girls  between  the  ages  of  14  and  16  should  receive  definite  vocational  training 
in  continuation  schools.  We  recommend  that  the  board  of  education  extend  the 
use  of  public  schools  as  social  centers. 

REGULATIONS  FOR  PARKS. 

"To  the  park  commissioners: 

"The  parks  should  be  better  policed  and  playgrounds  supervised  more  carefully 
Managers  of  dancing  pavilions  should  be  more  vigilant  in  excluding  vicious  per- 
sons. Park  managers  should  extend  greater  protection  to  unaccompanied  young 
girls,  especially  in  the  evening.  Public  parks  should  be  better  lighted  and  equipped 
with  search  lights.  Seats  should  be  removed  from  the  deep  shadows. 

"To  churches-  and  other  religious  bodies: 

"Pastors  and  religious  workers  should  aid  in  arousing  public  opinion  against 
the  open  and  flagrant  expression  of  the  social  evil  in  this  city.  The  churches 
should  endeavor  to  counteract  the  evil  influences  in  the  community  by  opening 
rooms  attached  to  the  church  buildings  as  recreational  centers  during  week  day 
evenings. 

"To  parents: 

"Great  emphasis  should  be  placed  on  parental  responsibility  and  upon  the  effects 
of  church  and  school  in  informing  parents  how  to  safeguard  their  children." 

TEXT  OF  PROPOSED  ORDINANCE. 

Following  is  the  proposed  ordinance: 

"Be  it  ordained  by  the  city  council  of  Chicago: 

"Section  1 — That  there  shall  be  and  hereby  is  created  in  and  for  the  city  of 
Chicago,  a  commission  to  be  known  as  the  'Morals  Commission  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago,' the  members  of  which  shall  be  appointed  by  the  mayor  with  the  approval 
of  the  city  council,  and  which  commission  shall  consist  of  five  (5)  persons  who 
shall  be  qualified  electors  of  said  city  and  each  of  whom  shall  have  resided  therein 
at  least  one  year  preceding  this  appointment.  A  second  member  of  said  commis- 
sion shall  be  a  physician  in  good  standing. 

"Section  2 — The  members  of  said  commission  shall  take  the  oath  of  office  and 
file  the  bond  provided  by  law  for  officers  of  said  city;  provided  that  no  additional 
bond  shall  be  required  of  the  member  of  said  commission  who  shall  be  the  commis- 
sioner of  health  of  said  city.  Such  bond  shall  be  in  the  penal  sum  of  one  thousand 
dollars  ($1,000),  and  shall  be  conditional  according  to  law. 

MEMBERS  SERVE  TWO  YEARS. 

"Section  3 — The  term  of  office  of  the  commissioner  of  health,  as  ex-officio  mem- 
ber of  said  commission,  shall  be  during  the  time  that  he  be  commissioner  of  health 
of  the  city  of  Chicago.  The  term  of  office  of  the  other  members  of  said  commis- 
sion shall  be  two  (2)  years,  and  until  their  successors  shall  be  appointed  and  quali- 
fied. The  commissioner  of  health  of  the  city  of  Chicago  shall  not  receive  any  ad- 
ditional compensation  as  a  member  of  said  commission.  The  other  members  of 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  395 

said  commission  shall  serve  without  compensation.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
commissioner  of  public  works  of  the  city  of  Chicago  to  furnish  to  said  commission 
suitable  quarters  without  charge. 

"Section  4 — Said  coiiuoiasion  shall  have  power  to  appoint  a  chief  clerk  and 
assistant  clerk,  one  attorney  and  assistant  attorney,  one  medical  inspector  and 
assistant  medical  inspectors,  and  such  other  help  as  may  be  necessary.  The  com- 
pensation of  all  such  officers  and  help  and  other  expenses  of  said  commission  shall 
be  such  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  fixed  by  the  city  council. 

GIVE  COMMISSION  FULL  POWER. 

"Section  5 — It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  commission  to  take  all  legal  and  nec- 
essary steps  towards  the  effectual  suppression  of  disorderly  and  similar  houses 
within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  within  three  (3)  miles  of  the  outer 
boundaries  of  the  city;  to  collect  evidence  of  the  violation  of  any  state  laws  and 
city  ordinances  concerning  any  of  such  houses,  and  the  keepers,  inmates,  and  pa- 
trons of  the  same;  and  to  institute  and  carry  on  prosecutions  in  the  name  of  the 
city  of  Chicago  against  any  of  said  houses,  said  keepers,  inmates,  and  patrons. 

"Section  6 — Said  commission  shall  have  power  and  authority  to  make  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  said  commission  and  otherwise  not 
inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this  ordinance." 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  COMMISSION. 

The  members  of  the  commission  are,  besides  Dean  Sumner  and  Secretary  Edwin 
W.  Sims: 

W.  L.  Baum,  M.  D.,  W.  W.  Hallam, 

Rev.  J.  G.  Kircher,  L.  E.  Schmidt,  M.  D., 

David  Blaustein,  A.  W.  Harris,  LL.  D., 

Louis  0.  Kohtz,  Bishop  C.  T.  Shaffer, 

Rev.   J.   F.   Callaghan,  William  Healy,  M.  D., 

P.  J.  (XKeeffe,  Edward  M.  Skinner, 

Anna  Dwyer,  M.  D.,  Ellen  M.  Henrotin, 

Judge  Harry  Olson,  Prof.   Graham  Taylor, 

W.  A.  Evans,  M.  D.,  Rev.  Abram  Hirschberg, 

Judge  M.  W.  Pinckney,  Prof.  William  I.  Thomas, 

Rev.  Albert  Evers,  Prof.  C.  R.  Henderson, 

Alexander  Robertson,  Prof.  H.  L.  Willett, 

Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  D.  D.,  Rev.  E.  A.  Kelly, 

Julius  Rosenwald,  John  L.  Whitman. 

SUMMARY  OF  WHAT  THE  VICE  COMMISSION  FOUND;    AND  HOW  IT 
WOULD  CORRECT  THE  EVIL. 

THE  EVIL. 

Five  thousand  women  are  consumed  annually  by  Chicago's 


896  VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT 

social  evil.  Fifteen  million  dollars  are  squandered  each  year  in 
brothels. 

Graft,  the  shame  of  American  cities,  flourishes  under  the  sys- 
tem that  exploits  vice. 

The  saloon,  a  bad  enough  institution  in  itself,  is  degraded 
by  vice. 

Vice  preys  upon  children  forced  by  poverty  to  earn  their  liv- 
ing in  the  streets — 3,931  of  these  children  in  the  First  ward. 

Vice  is  responsible  for  the  "race  problem "  in  great  cities. 
The  negro  is  forced  by  lack  of  other  employment,  into  the  Ten- 
derloin and  becomes  a  bad  citizen. 

"Red  light  districts"  breed  criminals  and  offer  them  havens 
of  refuge. 

Vice  lies  in  wait  for  the  innocent  girl  who  comes  to  Chicago  to 
earn  her  living.  It  surrounds  her  by  almost  irresistible  tempta- 
tions. 

The  general  delivery  window  of  the  postoffice,  a  secret  and 
safe  way  of  spotting,  inveigling  and  trapping  young  girls. 

The  great  majority  of  young  immigrant  women  are  not  given 
adequate  protection  after  they  reach  the  United  States. 

THE  REMEDIES. 

State  laws  and  city  laws  should  be  enacted  making  resorts 
public  nuisances  and  expressly  giving  to  any  citizen  the  right 
to  institute  summary  proceedings  against  them. 

There  should  be  relentless  pursuit  and  prosecution  of  profes- 
sional procurers. 

There  should  be  constant  prosecution  of  all  keepers  and  in- 
mates of  existing  houses  as  well  as  owners  of  the  property. 

An  identification  system  for  women  in  resorts  should  be  es- 
tablished by  the  state  courts. 

A  law  should  be  enacted  providing  a  penalty  for  sending  any 
messenger  under  21  years  of  age  into  a  disorderly  house. 

A  second  school  for  wayward  girls,  similar  to  the  school  at 
Geneva  should  be  established  in  Illinois. 


VICE  COMMISSION  REPORT  397 

Protection  should  be  given  to  immigrant  girls  arriving  in 
Chicago. 

The  sale  of  liquor  should  be  forbidden  at  public  dances.  Mu- 
nicipal dance  halls  should  be  established. 

The  city  should  acquire  a  farm  on  which  a  trade  school  and 
hospital  can  be  established  for  unfortunate  women. 


CHAPTEE  XXVII. 

THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS  AND  THE  WHITE  SLAVE  TRAFFIC  IN 

ENGLAND. 

By   William    Alexander    Coote,    Secretary   International    Bureau    for   the 
Suppression  of  the  White  Slave  Trade,  London,  England. 

It  is  but  eleven  years  since  the  movement  in  connection  with 
the  suppression  of  this  traffic  commenced.  It  seems  incredible 
that  up  till  then  no  combined  action  had  been  taken  to  rid  the 
world  of  this  hideous  crime.  It  is  a  crime  not  peculiar  to  any 
race  or  country,  but,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  is  indigenous 
to  those  countries  where  civilization  doth  most  flourish.  Why 
it  is  so,  is  not  difficult  to  essay.  With  the  uprising  of  a  country, 
comes  the  dominating  factor  of  wealth,  and  wealth,  unless  sancti- 
fied— really  leavened  with  the  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ — is  made  the  means  of  the  degradation  of  women,  and  the 
reign  of  lustful,  cruel,  and  degraded  men.  The  White  Slave 
Traffic  from  start  to  finish  is  a  question  of  money,  the  market 
is  kept  going  by  the  wealth  of  the  unscrupulous  roue  (a  man 
devoted  to  a  life  of  sensual  pleasure),  whose  soul-stained  money 
is  the  driving  force  of  the  trader.  The  fact  that  money  may 
be  so  easily  made  by  it,  has  been  one  of  the  most  energizing 
influences  in  this  cruel  enslavement  of  innocent  and  outraged 
womanhood. 

This  was  not  the  only  factor  that  has  created  a  vested  interest 
in  this  shameful  phase  of  crime.  Another,  as  potent,  has  been 
the  freedom  from  punishment  with  which  hitherto  the  trader 
could  pursue  his  victims  from  one  country  to  another,  know- 
ing that  the  existing  laws  could  not  touch  him.  When  I  held 
the  first  meeting  in  Berlin  in  connection  with  this  crusade,  under 
the  auspices  of  Her  Majesty  the  German  Empress,  after  I  had 

398 


THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS  399 

been  showing  bow  easily  tbese  men  could  carry  on  tbeir  nefari- 
ous business,  Herr  von  Dirksen,  who  was  then  connected  with 
the  German  government,  and  who  is  still  doing  so  much  to 
remove  the  reproach  of  this  crime  from  our  civilization,  to  say 
nothing  of  our  Christianity,  rose,  and  spoke  of  the  difficulty  of 
dealing  with  it  from  an  international  point  of  view,  owing  to 
the  non-existence  of  a  law  by  means  of  which  a  trader  passing 
his  victims  through  two  or  three  countries,  could  be  arrested 
and  punished.  It  was  the  declaration  of  this  fact  by  a  respon- 
sible government  official,  which  gave  such  an  impulse,  in  the 
initial  stage,  to  this  world-wide  crusade. 

Another  strange  condition  of  things,  which  made  for  the 
security  of  the  traffickers,  was  the  incredulity  and  indifference 
of  the  public,  especially  the  Christian  public,  to  the  existence 
of  this  crime  in  their  midst.  The  press  never  recognized  its 
existence,  and  naturally  therefore,  never  uttered  a  word  in 
condemnation.  When  statements  were  made,  many  years  pre- 
viously, by  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler,  the  press  thought  it  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  call  her  and  her  friends  fanatics.  When  facts 
were  brought  to  light  in  Brussels,  as  far  back  as  1882  by  Mr. 
Dyer,  the  press  regarded  the  case  as  an  isolated  one,  and  re-- 
fused to  believe  in  the  international  character  of  the  crime.  The 
public,  following  the  lead  of  the  press,  took  up  the  same  attitude, 
and  refused  to  give  credence  to  the  statements  made. 

The  Church,  with  the  large  C,  while  not  traversing  the  state- 
ments of  those  who  knew,  said  that  if  it  were  so,  it  was  a  mat- 
ter for  governments  and  officials,  and  not  for  the  church. 

No  wonder  that,  under  these  circumstances,  the  trade  flour- 
ished, and  the  price  of  a  virtuous  woman  fluctuated  in  the  mar- 
kets of  vice,  as  stocks  and  shares  of  mercantile  companies  do 
today.  Had  it  not  been  so,  it  would  not  have  been  left  until 
1899  before  any  organized  effort  was  attempted  to  cope  with  this 
cruel  state  of  things. 

Of  these  three  factors,  two,  owing  to  the  movement,  have 
disappeared.  The  international  agreement  has  met  the  condi- 
tion of  things  referred  to  by  Herr  von  Dirksen  at  the  beginning, 


400  THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS 

and  has  closed  in  the  legal  international  network,  so  that  the 
criminal  cannot  so  easily  escape,  either  at  home  or  abroad. 

The  press,  the  public,  and  the  church  have  been  quickened  into 
a  fervid  state  of  activity.  Now  convinced,  they  are  eager  to 
forge  any  and  every  legal  weapon  to  deal  with  this  Apollyon 
of  evil. 

The  unscrupulous  man  and  the  sordid  wealth  still  remain, 
but  have  lost  much  of  their  power.  The  press  has  turned  the 
full  blaze  of  public  opinion  upon  them,  and  they  now  have  to 
go  warily  in  the  pursuit  of  this  particular  vice,  while  the  activity 
of  the  law  has  struck  legal  terror  into  the  breasts  of  the 
traffickers. 

Fortunately,  the  combined  efforts  of  men  and  women  of  all 
creeds,  and  of  officialism  and  philanthropy  have  grappled  with 
this  evil,  which  has  not  only  received  a  severe  check,  but  in  many 
countries  is  now  tottering  to  a  fall,  a  consummation  most  de- 
voutly to  be  wished. 

But  is  this  so,  and  if  so  how  has  it  been  brought  about?  "Not 
by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord." 
Like  most  great  movements,  in  the  most  unlikely  manner,  and 
by  the  most  unlikely  instruments.  Here  are  the  steps :  an  ordi- 
nary worker  seeking  a  lost  girl,  finding  her  abroad  in  a  hospital, 
returning  to  England  heartsick  and  sore,  at  the  cruel  method 
by  which  the  wrong  had  been  achieved.  At  home  wondering 
what  else  could  be  done  to  arouse  Europe,  then  a  vision,  and 
the  command  to  go  forward.  Then  the  fear  of  misinterpreting 
the  vision,  the  cry  to  God  for  more  light,  the  sweet  assurance, 
and  then  the  going  forth  to  strange  lands,  with  the  result  as 
we  have  it  today.  Not  as  the  accomplishment  of  one  man's 
work.  The  seed  had  been  sown,  had  been  watered  for  years  by 
faithful  laborers,  and  one  was  sent  forth  in  His  Name  to  gather, 
in  the  harvest.  Not  all,  but  some,  for  there  is  much  ingathering 
still  to  be  done.  And  as  the  laborers  are  now  coming  from  the 
east  and  the  west,  the  north  and  the  south,  all  will  take  part  in 
that  harvest  home  to  which  we  shall  come  rejoicing,  bringing 
our  sheaves  with  us. 


THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS  401 


402  THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS 

No  wonder  that  when  some  of  the  greatest  statesmen  and 
the  best  intellects  of  Europe  began  to  seriously  deal  with  this 
problem,  they  found  that  while  the  Upas  tree  of  White  Slavery 
could  be  clearly  defined,  its  roots  touched  almost  every  part  of 
the  social  life  of  the  people.  It  was  soon  felt  that  while  the 
world  must  be  roused  in  antagonism  to  the  White  Slave  Traffic, 
the  soldier  of  the  Cross  must  attack  the  sources  from  which  the 
tree  drew  its  strength.  At  the  various  congresses  such  ques- 
tions as  Cafe  Chant  ants  (saloon  with  stage  where  drink  is 
served),  registry  offices  for  servants,  theatrical  agencies,  the 
reception  by  minors  of  correspondence  at  Pastes  Restantes 
(general  delivery),  indecent  books  and  pictures,  and  the  regula- 
tion and  segregation  of  vice  by  the  governments,  have  been 
dealt  with  most  carefully,  with  results  of  the  most  heartening 
character.  In  most  countries,  all  the  above  questions  with  the 
exception  of  state  regulation  of  vice  have  at  the  present  time 
been  more  or  less  successfully  dealt  with,  as  contributory  causes 
of  the  White  Slave  Traffic.  Congresses  have  been  held  in  Eng- 
land, Germany,  France  and  Spain,  each  has  appeared  to  gather 
strength  from  its  predecessors,  and  to  converge  in  dealing  with 
the  various  problems  which  are  constantly  cropping  up  in  con- 
nection with  this  question. 

No  more  striking  illustration  of  this  can  be  given  than  by 
detailing  the  influential  character  of  the  personnel  of  our  last 
congress  which  was  held  in  Madrid  in  October,  1910,  and  re- 
citing a  few  of  the  propositions  which  engaged  the  attention 
of  the  delegates. 

All  our  congresses  have  been  attended  by  men  and  women  of 
influence,  but  never  before  have  we  had  so  many  governments 
officially  represented,  or  been  given  a  more  brilliant  reception. 
To  prove  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  note  that  the  opening 
ceremony  of  welcome  was  conducted  by  Don  Carlos,  brother- 
in-law  to  the  king. 

Both  the  Spanish  court  and  the  government  appeared  most 
anxious,  not  only  for  the  success  of  the  congress,  but  to  impress 
the  delegates  with  the  keen  sympathy  with  its  objects.  Es- 


THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS  403 

pecially  was  this  the  case  with  His  Majesty  the  King,  who,  in 
speaking  with  some  of  the  delegates,  expressed  his  deep  interest 
in  the  whole  moral  question. 

Seven  different  subject  were  on  the  congress  programme  for 
discussion  and  decision.  Each  being  dealt  with  by  a  representa- 
tive from  the  different  national  committees.  Every  sitting  of 
the  congress  was  well  attended,  and  honored  with  the  presence 
of  representatives  from  the  court  and  government.  One  of  the 
subjects  dealt  with  which  would  have  a  special  interest  for 
American  friends  was,  "What  is  the  best  definition  of  the  term 
"Traite  des  Blanches'  "  (White  Slave)  ?  It  was  argued  by  some 
that  the  traffic  was  not  confined  to  white  women,  but  that  Japan- 
ese and  Chinese  women  were  being  enslaved  in  the  same  man- 
ner, and  that  the  definition  should  be  sufficiently  broad  to  cover 
women  of  all  colors.  It  was  resolved,  however,  that  for  the 
present  the  title  should  remain  as  it  is. 

The  question  of  the  development  of  the  work  in  Egypt  and 
the  near  east,  formed  the  subject  of  a  long  and  interesting  de- 
bate. It  was  ultimately  resolved  that  the  International  Bureau 
should  organize  a  small  commission  to  visit  Egypt  to  investigate 
the  work  there,  and  report  as  to  its  developments.  If  this  is 
undertaken,  as  in  all  probability  it  will  be,  the  next  congress 
should  receive  a  very  interesting  report  on  the  problems  of  the 
near  east  so  far  as  the  White  Slave  Traffic  is  concerned. 

The  question  which  provoked  the  longest  discussion  was  that 
introduced  by  Dr.  de  Graaf,  government  representative  from 
Holland,  who  dealt  with  what  he  considered  the  chief  sources 
of  the  White  Slave  Traffic,  laying  special  stress  on  the  ques- 
tion of  state  regulation  of  vice,  which,  he  very  clearly  proved, 
was  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  this  nefarious  traffic.  Without 
legalized  vice,  and  the  tolerated  houses  of  ill-fame,  the  White 
Slave  Traffic  would,  in  his  opinion,  well-night  cease  to  exist. 
The  discussion  was  remarkable  for  the  definite  declaration  of 
many  leading  Spanish  delegates  in  favor  of  the  total  abolition 
of  the  state  regulaton  of  vice.  Dr.  Castelo,  a  member  of  the 
Spanish  national  committee,  and  a  man  of  eminence  and  learn- 


404  THE  WORLD'S  CONGRESS 

ing,  protested  strongly  that  it  was  not  possible  for  the  regulation 
system  to  co-exist  with  work  for  the  suppression  of  the  White 
Slave  Traffic,  seeing  that  the  Maisons  de  Tolerances  (tolerated 
houses)  are  the  markets  for  the  traffickers,  and  that  in  this 
work  there  must  be  no  differentiation  in  the  moral  standard  for 
both  sexes. 

When  the  congress  was  over,  and  we  were  separating  for  our 
respective  homes,  we  all  felt  that  great  strides  had  been  made 
toward  the  total  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  lust,  and  the 
dawn  of  that  day  when  men  and  women  shall  together  fight  for 
the  overthrow  of  all  evil,  and  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  our 
Lord. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

WHAT  THE  DOCTORS  ARE  DOING? 

By  B.  S.  Steadwell. 
President  American  Purity  Federation— Editor  of  "The  Light." 

The  fallacy  of  the  past—The  splendid  work  of  today— The  fight  on  social 
diseases — The  Brussels  Conference — Educating  the  Public — "The  Con- 
spiracy of  Silence" — The  work  of  the  State  Boards  of  Health — Horrible 
facts  that  must  be  known  and  methods  of  prevention. 

One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  in  the  war  against  the  social 
diseases  and  for  a  higher  standard  of  physical  morals,  is  the 
changing  attitude  and  present  methods  of  medical  men.  In 
mentioning  this  fact  to  a  well-known  purity  worker  some  time 
ago,  he  replied,  "Yes,  it  is  true,  but  I  can  remember  when  in 
England  the  physicians  and  the  medical  journals  were  our  chief 
opponents."  In  1867  at  the  International  Medical  Congress 
held  in  Paris  it  was  voted  by  acclamation  to  nominate  a  commis- 
sion which  should  visit  the  governments  of  all  countries  to  urge 
them  to  adopt  a  uniform  system  of  medical  police  government 
in  dealing  with  the  social  plagues.  The  same  congress  at  Vienna 
in  1873  boldly  advocated  the  same  form  of  regulated  vice  and 
demanded  the  prompt  enactment  of  an  international  law  to 
carry  out  the  proposal.  Mrs.  Josephine  E.  Butler,  in  speak- 
ing of  these  efforts  by  the  doctors,  said :  * '  Everything  pointed 
to  the  fact  that  they  were  about  to  strike  a  blow  which  should 
bring  all  the  governments  of  the  civilized  world  down  upon  their 
knees  before  the  great  god  of  so-called  medical  science,  and 
force  them  to  conform  to  its  will."  It  has  not  been  very  long 
since  there  were  paragraphs  if  not  chapters  in  medical  text- 
books dealing  with  the  "Diseases  of  Continence." 

We  can  readily  forgive  our  friends,  the  doctors,  their  past 

405 


406  WHAT  THE  DOCTORS  ARE  DOING 

attitude  on  these  problems  when  we  consider  the  splendid  work 
the  medical  fraternity  is  doing  today,  and  must  admit  that  they 
have  advanced  in  their  views  quite  as  rapidly  as  the  rest  of 
mankind,  and  while  there  are  still  among  them  men  of  the 
"old  school, "  men  of  impure  life  and  practice,  quacks  and  char- 
latans, the  men  at  the  top  in  the  profession  are  sound  on  these 
matters,  and  the  movements  inaugurated  by  them  during  the 
past  score  of  years  will  result  in  the  highest  good.  The  whole 
problem  of  the  social  evil  with  all  of  its  attendants  misery, 
rests  upon  just  one  proposition,  that  is  as  to  whether  or  not 
the  indulgence  of  sexual  passion  is  a  necessity  for  the  highest 
physical  health  of  men.  The  doctors  of  the  ' '  old  school ' '  claimed 
that  it  was  a  physical  necessity ;  the  doctors  of  today,  the  leaders 
in  the  profession,  affirm  most  positively  that  it  is  not.  Thus 
science  is  paving  the  way  for  the  certain,  and  may  we  hope 
early  eradication  of  public  vice,  the  open  house  of  shame,  the 
market  for  our  girls  who  are  sold  into  sin. 

The  Brussels  International  Conference,  which  met  in  1899 
to  consider  the  question  of  social  diseases  and  the  best  means 
of  overcoming  their  ravages,  provided  for  the  formation  of  an 
"International  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis;" 
the  next  session  of  this  conference  held  in  1902,  which  also  met 
in  Brussels,  issued  the  important  pronouncement  that,  "Chastity 
is  not  injurious  but  beneficial  to  young  men."  In  conformity 
with  the  recommendations  of  the  Brussels  Conference,  the 
movement  for  the  prevention  or  limitation  of  the  spread  of 
social  diseases  was  inaugurated  in  this  country  by  the  organi- 
zation in  New  York  city  of  the  American  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis  in  1905,  the  founder  being  Prince  A. 
Morrow,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  who  had  long  been  interested  in  these 
questions.  It  was  hoped  that  the  new  movement  would  very 
quickly  become  national  in  its  scope,  but  while  this  hope  was 
not  realized  at  once,  a  number  of  independent  societies  with  a 
common  purpose  were  formed  in  the  larger  cities.  In  June, 
1910,  these  various  organization  united  in  a  national  society 
under  the  name  "The  American  Federation  of  Sex  Hygiene," 


WHAT  THE  DOCTORS  ARE  DOING  407 

with  Dr.  Morrow  was  president.  The  purpose  of  the  federation 
is  stated  as  follows :  "The  education  of  the  public  in  the  phys- 
iology and  hygiene  of  sex,  and  the  study  of  every  means — 
educational,  sanitary,  moral,  and  legislative,  for  the  prevention 
of  syphilis  and  of  gonococcus  infection. ' '  It  is  expected  that  the 
federation  will  issue  a  regular  periodical,  the  societies  compos- 
ing it  including  the  New  York  Society,  have  already  issued  a 
vast  amount  of  literature  of  the  highest  order.  These  societies 
and  the  federation,  while  not  limited  in  membership  to  medical 
men,  it  is  well  understood,  we  believe,  that  physicians  are  to 
control  their  policy ;  and  this  is  as  it  should  be. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  work  done  by  a  number  of 
physicians,  who,  working  independently,  are  helping  to  break 
the  "conspiracy  of  silence "  on  sex.  Dr.  Lyman  B.  Sperry  of 
Oberlin,  Ohio,  has  for  many  years  gone  before  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s, 
churches,  and  other  organized  bodies  and  lectured  plainly  on 
these  vital  subjects,  while  his  two  books,  "Confidential  Talks 
with  Young  Men"  and  "Confidential  Talks  with  Young  Wo- 
men," have  had  a  wide  circulation.  Dr.  Winfield  Scott  Hall 
of  Chicago,  the  eminent  specialist,  is  now  doing  a  similar  work, 
while  his  books,  "Reproduction  and  Sexual  Hygiene"  and  "The 
Strength  of  Ten,"  are  reaching  many  thousands  of  men.  Dr. 
Emma  F.  A.  Drake  of  Denver,  Dr.  Ernest  Hall  of  Victoria,  B.  C., 
and  other  physicians  are  using  every  opportunity  to  present  the 
physiological  and  educational  phases  of  sexual  life  to  the  people. 
Too  much  cannot  be  said  for  this  work  on  the  part  of  leading 
medical  men  and  women,  or  for  its  effect  in  making  a  large  work 
possible. 

The  state  boards  of  health  in  several  states  are  taking  very 
advanced  steps  in  the  promulgation  of  sane  sex  instruction. 
Through  the  direction  and  assistance  of  the  state  board  of 
health  of  California,  there  was  prepared  a  very  extensive  ex- 
hibit which  portrayed  the  causes,  methods  of  spread  and  methods 
of  prevention  of  syphilis  and  gonococcus  infection.  It  is  the  in- 
tention to  display  this  exhibit,  accompanied  by  competent  med- 
ical lecturers,  in  all  parts  of  the  state  that  the  people  may  be 


408  WHAT  THE  DOCTORS  ARE  DOING 


ird  of 


enlightened  as  to  the  maladies  of  vice.  The  state  boai 
Louisiana  is  doing  a  similar  work  and  will  use  a  special  car 
to  carry  the  exhibit  to  all  railroad  towns  and  cities  in  the  state. 
In  Ehode  Island,  Massachusetts  and  Ohio  a  very  complete  set 
of  circulars  are  issued  by  the  state  boards  warning  people  of 
the  dangers  in  social  diseases  and  instructing  them  in  methods 
of  prevention. 

Probably  the  most  effective  work  that  has  been  undertaken 
by  any  state  board  of  health  for  the  elimination  of  the  social 
diseases  is  that  carried  on  by  the  state  board  in  Indiana  under 
the  supervision  of  its  secretary,  Dr.  J.  N.  Hurty.  Besides  em- 
ploying a  lecturer  who  visits  all  parts  of  the  state,  sixty  thou- 
sand copies  of  a  health  circular  and  educational  pamphlet, 
"Social  Hygiene  vs.  The  Sexual  Plagues,"  have  been  issued 
and  placed  in  the  homes  of  the  state.  This  pamphlet  of  40  pages 
goes  most  thoroughly  into  all  phases  of  the  sex  question,  and 
discusses  it,  not  only  from  the  standpoint  of  science  or  physical 
welfare,  but  presents  also  the  moral  side.  We  will  quote  here 
a  number  of  statements  from  this  pamphlet,  as  they  emanate 
from  a  conservative  body  of  medical  men  and  are  representative 
of  the  views  held  by  the  great  body  of  physicians  in  our  country : 

' i  Gonorrhea  is  said  to  be  the  most  widespread  disease  among 
the  adult  population  of  the  human  family,  and  in  the  light  of 
increased  knowledge  is  held  to  be  doing  more  harm  than  syphilis. 

"A  majority  (some  hospital  authorities  assert  70  per  cent, 
others  85  per  cent)  of  abdominal  and  pelvic  surgical  operations 
on  women  are  the  result  of  gonorrheal  infection ;  in  many  cases 
ignorantly  transmitted  by  the  husband. 

"Gonorrheal  infection  is  responsible  for  20  to  30  per  cent  of 
blindness. 

"Gonorrhea  is  the  principal  cause  of  race  suicide. 

"It  is  asserted  that  from  8  to  18  per  cent  of  American  youngj 
men  contract  syphilitic  infection. 

"Medical  view  as  to  syphilis  is  being  revised  constantly.  The 
disease  has  been  thought  curable,  but  since  the  isolation  of 
the  organism,  the  germ  has  been  found  in  the  brain  and  other 


WHAT  THE  DOCTORS  ARE  DOING  409 

parts  of  the  body  twenty  years  after  the  infection  has  been 
contracted. ' ' 

With  such  horrible  facts  as  these  relative  to  the  social  dis- 
eases, it  is  high  time  that  the  public  is  fully  informed  about 
them,  and  of  the  methods  of  prevention.  Every  state  and  city 
board  of  health  in  our  land  ought  to  be  enlisted  in  this  splendid 
work.  And  the  public  should  encourage  and  support  the  doctors 
in  the  efforts  they  are  making  to  save  us  from  the  ravages  of 
these  loathsome  diseases.  It  may  be  well  to  mention  that  re- 
cently a  distinguished  European  physician  has  discovered  what 
is  said  to  be  a  certain  cure  and  specific  for  the  two  worst  social 
maladies.  It  has  already  worked  most  marvelous  cures,  and 
at  the  present  time  quantities  of  the  preparation  have  been 
sent  to  a  great  many  hospitals  and  medical  centers  throughout 
the  world  that  an  extensive  test  may  be  made  of  its  efficacy. 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 

FACTS  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  SHOULD  KNOW. 

Social  Hygiene— The  Child's  Right  to  a  Knowledge  of  Sex— From  the  Parent's 
Standpoint — From  the  Educator's  Standpoint  and  front  the  Religious  and 
Physician's  Standpoint. 

There  is  a  subject  that  has  been  troubling  fathers  and  mothers 
and  also  conscientious  students  and  guardians  of  boys  and  girls, 
and  that  subject  is  the  boys'  and  girls'  right  to  a  knowledge  of 
sex.  In  the  past  through  a  misconception  our  forefathers  have 
clothed  the  subject  in  a  drapery  of  mystery.  The  whole  subject 
of  sex  and  sex  knowledge  has  been  alluded  to  only  rarely,  and 
then  in  lowered  voice  and  flushing  cheeks.  It  has  been  sur- 
rounded with  an  atmosphere  of  indelicacy  and  shame.  The 
truth  is  that  this  very  secrecy  is  responsible  for  the  feeling  of 
shame  and  almost  guilt  which  has  accompanied  it. 

To  have  serious,  earnest,  pure-minded  men  and  women  han- 
dle this  subject  will  take  away  from  it  the  false  modesty  and 
prudery  which  so  many  inherently  feel  at  the  mention  of  sex. 

Therefore  the  articles  set  forth  here  through  the  courtesy  of 
The  Light  are  from  leading  authorities  on  the  subject  from 
every  point  of  view,  the  medical,  educational,  religious  and  par- 
ental. 

The  first  presented  will  be  "Social  Hygiene"  by  Winfield  S. 
Hall,  Ph.  D.,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Physiology  at  Northwestern 
University  Medical  School,  Chicago. 

Then  following  will  be  articles  by  such  eminent  authorities  as 
Mrs.  Delia  Thompson  Lutes,  editor  of  American  Motherhood, 
Cooperstown,  New  York;  Jessie  Phelps,  Special  Physiological 
Instructor  at  the  State  Normal  School,  Ypsilanti,  Michigan; 
Florence  Ethel  Smith,  the  well  known  religious  worker  of 
Beloit,  Wisconsin,  and  Josephine  E.  Young,  M.  D.,  Specialist 
in  Children's  Diseases  of  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago. 

410 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  411 

These  authorities  will  show  that  the  so-called  "mystery  of 
life"  is  a  scientific  development.  They  will  put  the  reader  into 
an  attitude  of  mind  where  the  whole  subject  of  sex  and  sex 
knowledge,  reproduction  and  reproductive  organs,  is  upon  as 
purely  a  scientific  basis  as  is  the  process  of  digestion.  The  sub- 
ject will  be  treated  very  much  as  the  surgeon  goes  about  the 
operation.  The  patient  is  the  diseased  human  mind.  Instru- 
ments sharp,  keen  and  thoroughly  sterilized  are  needed.  Yes,  the 
minds  and  thoughts  like  the  operating  room  shall  be  marble 
white  and  just  as  void  of  trappings  of  sentiment. 

There  will  be  no  flowers  allowed.  They  will  strip  the  sub- 
ject of  all  false  delicacy,  all  twaddling  and  nonsense.  They  will 
do  away  with  the  shuffling  of  facts,  the  mysterious  shrouding 
of  a  scientific  truth,  the  pretentious  teaching  which,  after  all, 
teaches  nothing. 

SOCIAL  HYGIENE. 

BY  WINFIELD   S.  HALL,  Ph.  D.,   M.   D. 

The  expression,  Social  Hygiene,  in  its  broadest  sense  applying 
to  the  maintenance  of  health  in  the  body  social,  has  been  in  re- 
cent years  applied  particularly  to  that  phase  of  social  well- 
being  associated  with  sexual  well-being  on  the  part  of  the  units 
of  the  body  social,  that  is,  sexual  right  living  on  the  part  of  in- 
dividuals, especially  so  far  as  this  sexual  right  living  affects  so- 
ciety. 

The  teaching  of  social  hygiene  must  begin  in  early  childhood, 
and  its  importance  as  a  part  of  education  should  never  be  lost 
sight  of  by  parents  or  teachers  until  the  individual  is  well 
launched  in  the  adolescent  period.  By  the  end  of  puberty,  the 
fifteenth  year  in  girls,  and  the  seventeenth  year  in  boys,  the 
youth  should  possess  sufficient  knowledge  on  sexual  matters  to 
protect  him  not  only  from  the  vices  that  are  so  likely  to  become 
habitual  during  these  years,  but  also  from  making  mistakes  in 
the  care  of  the  sexual  system,  which  might  lead  to  the  under- 
mining of  the  general  health. 


412  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

The  development  of  the  sexual  equipment  and  function,  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  same  has  a  double  bearing  upon  develop- 
ment and  training  of  the  mind.  In  the  first  place  a  knowledge 
of  the  function  of  reproduction  and  a  proper  attitude  of  mind 
regarding  it  must  be  recognized  by  educators  to  be  a  necessary 
part  of  the  equipment  of  every  young  person  for  life.  In  the 
second  place,  parents  and  teachers  are  morally  bound  to  treat 
all  questions  of  sex  in  the  same,  simple,  straight-forward,  truth- 
ful way  that  other  life  problems  are  treated.  In  this  way  only 
may  we  expect  that  a  proper  mental  attitude  toward  Reproduc- 
tion can  be  cultivated. 

1.    PEDAGOGIC  ASPECTS. 

1.    GESTEBAL  CONSIDEBATIONS. 

Responsibility  for  the  proper  instruction  of  youth  in  all  mat- 
ters regarding  sexual  development  and  the  care  of  the  sexual 
apparatus,  together  with  the  great  social  problem  of  sexual 
right  living,  must  in  the  nature  of  the  case  rest  upon  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  parents. 

However,  parents,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  as  a  rule  not  dis- 
charging this  responsibility.  Statistics  gathered  from  a  num- 
ber of  representative  colleges  in  the  Middle  States  show  that 
only  one  young  man  in  twenty  received  from  his  parents  any 
adequate  instruction  on  these  subjects  before  he  left  home.  If 
such  young  men,  representing  such  homes,  go  out  into  the  world 
uninstructed,  to  grope  their  way  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance, 
what  must  be  the  mental  condition  of  the  youth  from  less  thrifty 
families  ? 

This  condition  of  widespread  ignorance  regarding  some  of 
the  most  fundamentally  important  questions  of  social  life  and 
individual  development  came  gradually  to  be  understood  widely 
among  educators  and  professional  men  and  women,  and  finally 
a  representative  body  of  educators,  physicians,  clergymen,  law- 
yers, and  social  workers  met  in  New  York  City  four  years  ago 
and  organized  a  Society  of  Moral  and  Social  Prophylaxis,  whose 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  413 

object,  as  indicated  in  the  name  of  the  Society,  was  by  the  dis- 
semination of  information  to  protect  the  individual  and  the 
body  social  against  the  dissemination  not  only  of  physical  dis- 
eases, which  wrecked  both,  but  of  those  low  ideals  and  vicious 
customs  which  make  the  highest  life  impossible. 

2.    SEGBEGATION. 

The  most  important  lesson  learned  during  these  years  of  ex- 
perience in  presenting  this  subject  to  all  kinds  of  audiences,  is 
the  importance  of  segregation.  By  this  I  mean  that  boy  hearers 
should  be  separated  from  men  hearers.  Mothers  should  be  seg- 
regated from  fathers.  Furthermore,  mothers  and  daughters 
should  be  addressed  in  separate  audiences. 

The  more  homogeneous  the  audience  the  more  definite  and 
positive  can  the  statements  of  the  speaker  be. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  in  an  address  to  a  mixed  audience  of  par- 
ents and  children,  sex  problems  would  have  to  be  discussed  in  a 
most  general  and  indefinite  way.  The  circumlocutions  would  be 
so  veiled  and  the  allusions  so  remote  that  the  speaker  would 
probably  be  only  vaguely  understood  by  the  more  intelligent 
and  experienced  of  his  audience;  while  he  would  probably  be 
grossly  misunderstood  by  the  less  intelligent  and  inexperienced. 
Let  such  an  audience  be  segregated  along  sex  lines,  namely,  the 
women  and  girls  in  one  audience  and  the  men  and  boys  in  an- 
other. The  situation  would  be  somewhat  relieved,  though  not 
by  any  means  wholly  corrected.  One  can  talk  more  freely  to 
a  group  of  boys  when  they  are  alone  and  get  a  more  free  and 
frank  response  from  them  when  he  has  them  alone,  than  he  can 
in  the  presence  of  the  fathers.  The  same  thing  would  be  true, 
of  course,  in  an  audience  of  mothers  and  daughters.  Similarly 
one  would  discuss  with  an  audience  of  fathers  certain  subjects 
which  boys  in  the  early  years  of  adolescence  should  not  know; 
such  problems  as  those  that  concern  the  ethics  of  the  home,  for 
instance,  between  husband  and  wife,  problems  of  maternity  and 
paternity,  problems  involving  the  social  evils  and  prostitution. 
All  such  matters  may  be  discussed  freely  and  frankly  with  an 


414  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

audience  of  men,  but  manifestly  youths  below  the  age  of  seven- 
teen or  eighteen  should  not  be  present  in  the  audience. 

Concerning  a  division  of  the  audience  on  age  lines,  the  sexes 
being  mixed,  audiences  of  the  parents  and  then  audiences  of 
young  people — actual  experience  makes  it  clear  to  me  that  a 
public  speaker,  particularly  a  physician,  can  talk  much  more 
freely  to  an  audience  of  mothers  than  to  a  mixed  audience  of 
mothers  and  fathers.  Before  such  an  audience  of  mothers  the 
problems  of  maternity,  paternity,  adolescence  of  the  son  and 
daughter,  the  mother's  relation  to  adolescent  youth,  even  refer- 
ence to  venereal  diseases  against  which  the  mother  should 
guard  her  younger  children  through  instruction  in  the  use  of  any 
public  utensils,  and  against  which  she  should  warn  her  adoles- 
cent daughter — all  these  subjects  may  be  discussed  freely  before 
an  audience  of  mothers,  women  teachers  and  social  workers,  by 
a  physician.  But  before  a  mixed  audience  of  fathers  and  moth- 
ers he  instinctively  begins  to  deal  in  glittering  generalities  that 
may  mean  much  or  little  and  that  are  easily  misunderstood. 

As  to  the  teaching  of  the  story  of  life  to  young  people  in 
mixed  high  school  or  college  classes,  there  seems  to  be  some  dif- 
ference of  opinion  among  social  workers  as  to  how  that  should 
proceed.  There  are  in  the  country  a  few  experienced  high 
school  and  college  teachers  of  biology,  who,  beginning  with  the 
lower  animals  in  their  life  history  and  life  processes,  discuss 
freely,  among  other  things,  reproduction  in  these  lower  forms, 
beginning  with  the  protozoa  and  passing  up  step  by  step  to  the 
higher  animals,  until  finally  reproduction  among  the  mammals 
is  freely  discussed  as  to  its  biological  and  physiological  rela- 
tions. 

That  these  teachers  ever  carry  the  subject  so  far  as  to  dis- 
cuss with  their  pupils  problems  of  human  sex  life,  I  doubt. 
However,  the  student  of  biology  who  has  followed  the  subject 
as  far  as  indicated  above,  would  readily  infer  a  very  large  part 
of  the  application  of  the  general  principles  to  the  human  sub- 
ject. 

An  attempt  to  present  even  the  biology  of  reproduction  to  a 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  415 

mixed  audience  of  young  people  in  a  single  address  would  be  in 
a  high  degree  unwise.  As  a  rule,  then,  to  which  there  can  be 
few  and  rare  exceptions,  the  problems  of  sex  should  be  discussed 
in  homogeneous  audiences,  where  one  sex  and  age  is  segregated 
from  another. 

3 — THE  MATTER  TO  BE  PRESENTED. 

Having  divided  the  hearers  into  homogeneous  groups,  what 
shall  be  presented  to  each  group?  Manifestly,  are  the  parents 
interested  in  the  far  broader  field  and  capable  of  understanding 
a  far  greater  range  of  facts  than  are  the  children? 

A  group  of  boys  of  ten  to  fourteen  should  be  told  only  those 
things  that  boys  of  that  age  need  to  know,  for  example,  ques- 
tions regarding  reproduction.  What  goes  on  in  an  egg  during 
incubation?  What  has  the  rooster  to  do  in  the  process? 
Where  do  babies  come  from?  What  are  the  general  steps  of 
their  development  within  the  body  of  the  mother  ?  Why  do  they 
begin  to  develop  within  the  body  of  the  mother?  What  has 
the  father  to  do  with  this  process?  Then  there  are  questions  of 
physical  development  in  the  boy.  To  many  boys  these  ques- 
tions do  not  occur,  but  they  should  have  them  brought  to  their 
attention.  They  should  be  told  how  every  boy  passes  through 
stages  in  his  development  in  which  he  assumes  gradually  the 
stature,  the  mental  qualities  and  then  functions  of  manhood. 
It  should  be  made  clear  to  the  boys  that  they  have  it,  to  a  large 
degree,  in  their  hands  whether  this  development  shall  be  a  nor- 
mal one,  leading  to  stalwart  virile  manhood,  or  an  abnormal  one 
aborted  by  vicious  habits. 

A  group  of  older  boys,  fourteen  to  seventeen,  may  be  given 
another  chapter  in  the  story  of  reproduction.  Boys  of  that  age 
are  beginning  to  experience  the  "primordial  urge"  or  sexual  de- 
sire. Many  boys  of  fourteen  come  to  believe  that  all  natural 
desires  should  be  gratified,  but  the  teachers  of  social  hygiene 
must  explain  to  the  youths  that  the  fires  of  passion  must  be 
banked,  in  order  that  the  energies  of  manhood  may  be  conserved 
to  a  time  when  they  may  be  put  to  their  legitimate  use,  namely 


416  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

the  begetting  of  a  healthy  offspring  after  the  establishment  of 
the  home. 

A  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  for  youths  of  this  group 
to  understand  is  the  influence  of  internal  secretions  from  the 
sexual  glands  upon  the  body  and  its  development.  Most  youths 
have  seen  the  effects  of  castration  upon  the  development  of  a 
young  male  animal.  This  profound  effect  is  due  to  the  loss  of 
those  glands  which  produce  the  internal  secretions,  distributed 
with  the  blood  to  muscles  and  nervous  system.  Without  this 
secretion  the  animal  never  develops  those  splendid  physical  and 
temperamental  qualities  typical  of  the  male  of  his  species. 

The  matters  to  be  presented  to  the  girls,  young  women  and 
mothers,  are  parallel  and  analogous  to  those  presented  to  sim- 
ilar audiences  of  boys,  youths  and  men. 

4 — METHOD  OF  PRESENTATION. 

How  shall  this  carefully  selected  matter  be  presented  to  these 
carefully  selected  and  homogeneous  group?  This  is  a  prob- 
lem of  pedagogy.  In  my  presentation  of  this  matter  to  boys 
I  have  used  three  different  methods :  the  biological,  the  moral 
and  the  "heroic." 

The  biological  method  was  not  a  success,  because  I  was  able  to 
meet  the  group  but  once  and  no  adequate  biological  presentation 
can  be  made  in  one  meeting  of  a  class  or  audience.  Several,  or 
better  yet,  many  such  meetings  should  follow  in  regular  succes- 
sion, where  actual  living  material  collected  from  the  plant  and 
animal  kingdom  should  be  presented  and  studied  with  the  aid  of 
the  equipment  of  a  biological  laboratory.  Manifestly  such  a 
presentation  is  out  of  the  question  for  social  workers,  physical 
directors,  and  public  lecturers.  While  this  must  be  conceded  to 
be  the  ideal  method  of  presenting  the  subject  of  reproduction  and 
sexual  life,  it  is  a  method  feasible  only  for  the  teacher  of  biology 
of  a  high  school  or  college.  A  physician  could,  of  course,  with 
the  facilities  of  his  office,  teach  a  group  of  boys  and  girls  with 
this  biological  method,  but  the  physician  can  rarely  devote  the 
time  required  for  such  a  course  of  study. 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  417 

The  moral  method  was  used  after  I  satisfied  myself  that  the 
biological  method  could  not  be  used  in  the  short  space  of  one 
hour.  By  the  moral  method,  I  refer  to  an  appeal,  from  a  moral 
standpoint,  for  right  living.  After  several  attempts  to  stir  up 
boys  to  a  high  and  noble  desire  for  right  living,  putting  my  argu- 
ments strictly  on  a  moral  basis,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
method  was  not  effective,  that  it  didn't  really  stir  the  boys. 

The  heroic  method,  because  it  was  based  on  the  human  instinct 
of  hero  worship.  Heroes  appeal  to  boys.  When  one  begins  to 
discuss  a  real  hero  every  boy  in  the  audience  is  awake  and  alert. 
He  believes  in  heroes.  He  hopes  to  be  one.  He  knows  a  few, 
and  they  inspire  him  to  do  and  to  dare.  When  one  gets  hold  of 
an  audience  through  discussing  with  them  some  great  heroes,  he 
has  their  undivided,  almost  painful  attention  when  he  asks  the 
question:  "What  is  the  secret  of  the  hero's  success?"  "What 
is  the  secret  of  manhood?"  and  "What  can  a  boy  do  to  grow 
into  the  highest  type  of  virile  manhood,  which  alone  makes  pos- 
sible heroic  deeds?"  The  lecturer  can  answer  that  question  in 
the  last  five  minutes  of  a  forty-five  minutes '  talk,  and  leave  every 
boy  in  his  audience  convinced  and  determined. 

As  to  the  method  of  presenting  these  matters  to  young  people 
and  parents,  I  am  convinced  that  incomparably  the  most  ef- 
fective method  is  a  frank  presentation  of  the  findings  of  science. 
Don't  try  to  point  too  many  morals.  If  the  presentation  has 
been  clear  and  convincing,  the  listeners  will  very  readily  draw 
their  own  conclusions  and  formulate  their  own  morals. 

IE.      ITS  RELATIONS   TO  GENERAL  HYGIENE  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH. 

As  educators  we  must  face  the  fact  that  social  wrong  living — 
illicit  and  promiscuous  sexual  intercourse — is  certain  sooner  or 
later  to  be  followed  by  a  natural  retribution  in  the  form  of  a 
venereal  disease. 

These  diseases  are  communicable  by  contagion,  and  are  as 
readily  caught  by  innocent  parties  as  by  guilty  ones,  when  they 
are  subjected  to  contact  with  a  diseased  person. 

27 


418  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

The  leper  of  the  orient  was  segregated  and  isolated.  When 
he  met  a  pedestrian  upon  a  public  highway  he  was  required  to 
stand  aside,  lift  a  warning  hand  and  cry:  "Unclean,  Unclean  1" 
The  syphilitic  of  modern  times,  however,  with  a  disease  no  less 
contagious  at  certain  stages  of  its  course,  mingles  in  society, 
and  in  the  mart,  drinking  from  our  public  fonts,  wiping  his 
face  and  hands  upon  our  roller  towels,  using  public  conveniences 
in  the  toilet  rooms  of  our  public  buildings  and  railways.  He 
never  raises  a  warning  hand  and  his  own  family  may  not  know 
of  his  revolting  "uncleanness."  In  some  cases  the  infected  in- 
dividual even  subjects  members  of  his  own  household  to  the 
dangers  of  infection.  Thousands  of  innocent  people,  right- 
living  men,  women,  and  little  children  come  in  contact  with  the 
virus  and  get  an  infection  which  may  ruin  the  health  and  hap- 
piness for  all  the  future. 

But  this  is  too  dark  a  picture,  let  us  put  it  aside  and  try  to 
forget  it. 

However,  let  us  not  forget  to  warn  every  youth  to  observe 
every  precaution  in  the  use  of  public  facilities  of  every  kind. 

Fortunately,  the  rules  of  sanitation  necessary  to  observe  with 
respect  to  accidental  infection  with  the  virus  of  venereal  dis- 
eases. Not  too  much  emphasis  should  be  laid  upon  the  danger 
of  catching  venereal  disease  from  the  use  of  public  utensils  and 
facilities.  Venereal  disease  should  be  simply  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  possibilities. 

Personal  association  with  lewd  and  unclean  people  is  an  in- 
comparably greater  source  of  danger  and  every  boy  and  every 
girl  should  know  of  the  danger. 

THE  CHILD'S   RIGHT  TO  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  SEX. 

From  the   Parent's  Standpoint. 
BY  MRS.  BELLA  THOMPSON  LUTES. 

You  have  now  read  what  is  the  attitude  of  the  physician  to- 
ward this  subject,  the  right  of  the  child  to  a  clear,  concise,  scien- 
tific knowledge  of  sex.  You  have  read  that  the  physician  con- 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  419 

siders  ignorance  of  this  subject  a  sin  against  the  human  body. 
You  will  read  that  the  educator  believes  this  knowledge  to  be 
essential  in  founding  a  firm  mentality,  and  that  the  religious 
instructor  finds  a  cleaner  morality  possible  where  scientific 
knowledge  exists  instead  of  ignorance. 

I  shall  try  to  present  the  attitude  of  the  earnest,  sincere, 
truthseeking  parent,  who  desires  the  best  development  for  his 
child. 

You  call  a  little  child  into  being  out  of  space.  Whether  you 
have  created  him  because  of  your  longing  for  him,  your  wish  to 
perpetuate  your  kind,  your  divine  instinct  to  imitate  your  God, 
or  whether  out  of  sensual  desire,  condemning  the  issue,  matters 
little  now.  The  child  is  here  and  he  has  incontrovertible  rights. 
Most  of  these  are  but  just  discovered  or  recently  recognized. 

You  give  him  an  immortal  soul  in  a  mortal  body  and  then 
abandon  him  to  the  mercies  of  a  world  of  dangers  to  both  body 
and  soul.  You  give  him  a  body  subject  to  disease  and  neglect  to 
teach  him  how  to  care  for  it.  He  is  born  with  a  natural  and 
rightful  desire  for  legitimate  information;  he  asks  you  ques- 
tions which  his  dawning  intelligence  prompts,  questions  which 
for  the  sake  of  his  own  safety  ought  to  be  answered  truthfully 
and  intelligently,  and  you  hush  him  up,  shame  him,  chide  him 
or  lie  to  him.  He  comes  home  to  you  with  a  perverted  truth, 
heard  amongst  his  companions,  and  what  do  you  do?  Do  you 
sit  down  and  explain  to  him  truthfully  and  scientifically  the  mat- 
ter as  you  would  have  him  know  it?  No!  You  deny  him  the 
truth.  You  deny  him  knowledge.  You  refuse  to  acquaint  him 
with  clean,  bare  facts  of  a  physiological  nature.  Or  you  lie  to 
him  with  twaddling  stories  of  storks  and  doctors'  satchels  and 
angels. 

What  then  will  the  child  do?  Will  he  be  satisfied  with  this 
ignorance  so  thrust  upon  him?  Never!  Look  back  to  your  own 
childhood.  What  did  you  do  when  your  father  or  mother  thrust 
you  out  of  their  confidence,  turned  you  away,  hinting  at  indeli- 
cacy, something  shameful,  mysterious?  You  were  determined 
to  know  at  all  hazards.  You  sought  every  available  means  of 


420  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

information.  You  listened  eagerly  to  what  this  one  or  that  one 
had  to  say.  You  hung  upon  conversations  not  meant  for  your 
ears.  You  hunted  up  words  in  dictionaries.  You  sought  out 
carefully  hidden  medical  books,  good  or  bad,  and  pored  over 
them  secretly,  starting  guiltily  when  footsteps  sounded  near. 

What  was  the  result?  You  got  the  impression  that  the  whole 
subject  of  sex  and  sexual  organs  and  reproduction  was  associ- 
ated with  guilt,  shame  and  secrecy.  More  than  that,  you  knew 
that  the  stories  told  you  by  your  parents  were  untruths,  that 
you  had  been  deceived  and  lied  to.  You  were  ashamed  of  your 
parents  when  you  thought  of  your  own  birth.  They  must  have 
done  something  disgraceful,  low,  vulgar,  in  begetting  you.  You 
felt  that  you  were  a  child  of  shame. 

We  fancy  we  are  giving  our  children  all  necessary  advantages 
when  we  give  them  the  ordinary  high  school  education,  when  we 
teach  them  to  play  the  piano,  to  dance,  to  walk,  sit  and  stand 
correctly;  to  perform  creditably  at  the  dinner  table.  We  even 
attempt  teaching  them  how  to  eat  and  drink  for  proper  nour- 
ishment of  the  body.  We  are  trying  to  show  them  cleaner  living. 
We  show  them  pictures  of  the  human  body,  teach  them  circula- 
tion of  the  blood,  the  nervous  system  and  the  digestive  appara- 
tus. But  of  that  most  marvelous  and  wonderful  of  all  functions, 
the  one  in  which  man  most  nearly  resembles  God,  the  power  of 
reproduction  and  the  organs  which  are  given  us  for  this  purpose 
we  say  nothing.  We  hurry  past  it  with  averted  eyes.  It  is  a 
"delicate  subject."  We  are  too  "modest"  to  allude  to  it. 

And  yet  it  is  a  subject  which  every  young  man  and  woman 
wants  to  understand.  Why  not?  It  is  a  part  of  them.  A  pos- 
session which  belongs  to  them.  A  part  of  their  organism.  Why 
should  man  remain  in  ignorance  concerning  that  which  is  his 
own?  He  will  not.  He  will  know. 

So  the  boy  goes  to  vile  books,  vile  companions,  saloons  and  the 
brothel  to  learn,  and  the  girl  gets  her  information  from  sin  and 
shame.  Then  from  out  our  hospitals,  foundling  homes,  homes 
for  the  friendless,  syphilitic  wards  and  refuge  homes  comes  the 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  421 

awful  wail,  "Oh,  if  I  had  only  known !  If  any  one  had  only  told 
me  some  things,  I  need  not  have  been  here." 

And  you — you  parents — weep  and  cry  and  moan  "What 
have  I  done  that  my  gray  hairs  should  be  brought  to  sorrow  and 
shame  by  my  children?" 

Why,  you  have  neglected  your  solemn  obligations.  Your  son 
turns  out  a  licentious  brute  and  your  daughter  an  inmate  of 
the  brothel,  or  she  commits  the  sin  of  abortion  in  her  distress, 
and  dies.  Whose  is  the  blame  ?  Not  theirs,  poor,  ignorant,  mis- 
guided, uncontrolled,  passion-rid  young  animals.  And  oh,  not 
entirely  yours,  poor,  ignorant,  prudish  parents.  But  the  blame 
rests  on  an  untaught  traditionary  perverted  vision. 

"WHATSOEVER  A  MAN  SOWETH,  THAT  SHALL  HE  ALSO  REAP." 

Boys  sow  their  wild  oats  and  reap  a  harvest  of  disease  and 
death.  Girls  follow  nature 's  call  and  she  leads  them  into  dread 
ways  of  disgrace  and  anguish.  They  are  not  taught  self-control, 
nor  the  need  of  self-control.  They  are  not  taught  bodily  func- 
tions nor  the  consequences.  They  are  left  to  blind  ignorance 
instead  of  being  taught  wisely,  unsentimentally,  scientifically 
every  function  of  the  human  body,  instead  of  all  but  one. 

The  questions  of  children  should  be  answered  truthfully  and 
naturally.  As  they  grow  older  the  reproductive  organs  should 
be  explained  and  taught  them  just  as  clearly,  just  as  cleanly  and 
as  scientifically  as  the  organs  of  digestion.  Divested  of  mystery, 
secrecy,  prudery,  the  growing  child  will  have  a  clear  understand- 
ing of  the  changes  which  are  taking  place  within,  devoid  of  any 
uncleanliness  of  thought,  or  of  any  sentiment  fraught  with  dan- 
ger. He  will  understand  himself  as  a  marvelous  piece  of  ma- 
chinery, which  must  be  understood  as  the  engineer  understands 
his  engine,  to  be  cared  for  with  equal  skill. 

Nature 's  laws  are  beautiful  and  wonderful.  We  stand  in  ad- 
miration of  the  mating  of  flowers,  trees,  garden  fruits.  We  are 
quite  accustomed  to  the  love-making  and  caresses  of  birds.  It 
is  not  the  law  of  rightful  creation  of  which  we  are  ashamed, 
but  of  man's  degradation  of  nature's  gift. 


422  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

The  first  thing  you  have  to  do,  then,  in  order  to  give  the  child 
the  proper  attitude  of  mind  is  to  get  that  attitude  yourself. 
Study  the  subject  until  you  are  familiar  with  every  feature  and 
detail ;  until  you  know  the  name,  position  and  value  of  every  or- 
gan in  the  human  body,  with  the  proper  care  which  will  keep 
them  healthy  and  clean.  To  have  this  knowledge  yourself  first, 
clear,  scientific,  free  from  sentiment  and  folderol  is  absolutely 
necessary  before  you  can  give  the  information  even  to  your 
smallest  child.  I  cannot  tell  you  here  how  to  tell  this  so-called 
1 ' Story  of  Life"  to  your  children.  I  should  call  for  charts  and 
pictures  if  I  were  going  to  do  it.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  such 
a  course  would  be  about  the  most  valuable  course  of  study  that 
any  mothers'  club,  child  study  club  or  teacher-parent  club  could 
undertake.  I  have  merely  tried  to  make  you  feel  that  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  that  your  children  should  have  this  informa- 
tion and  that  you,  their  parents,  are  the  proper  ones  to  give  this 
information,  and  further  I  have  tried  to  impress  upon  you  the 
necessity  of  informing  yourselves,  if  you  are  not  already  in- 
formed, and  of  getting  into  the  proper  attitude  of  mind  your- 
selves before  you  can  hope  to  put  your  children  right.  In  fact, 
you  must  begin  today,  if  you  have  not  begun  before,  to  live  right 
and  think  right  in  order  that  you  can  teach  your  children  how 
to  live  right  and  think  right.  I  hold  that  it  is  the  parent's  right, 
privilege  and  duty  to  impart  this  knowledge  to  the  child,  but  I 
also  hold  that  where  parents  are  unfit,  untaught,  ignorant,  un- 
thinking, then  somebody  else  ought  to  do  it  for  the  sake  of  the 
child's  citizenship.  That  he  may  make  a  cleaner,  healthier,  pur- 
er minded  and  clearer  headed  man  or  woman.  If  you  have  be- 
come convinced  that  every  child  born  into  the  world  has  an  in- 
contestible  right  to  the  knowledge  of  and  acquaintance  with  his 
own  body,  then  you  must  take  upon  yourselves  the  duty  of 
spreading  this  belief  as  far  as  you  can.  We  are  opening  a  new 
field,  treading  comparatively  new  ground.  The  great  major- 
ity of  parents  have  not  as  yet  been  aroused  to  the  full  rights  of 
the  children  they  are  bringing  into  the  world.  It  will  be  your 
duty  to  help  them  see  what  you  have  seen.  Take  up  this  subject 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  423 

in  your  clubs  and  societies,  in  your  schools  and  the  mothers' 
clubs  connected  with  your  schools.  Be  sure  that  your  teachers 
are  rightly  informed  and  have  the  right  attitude  of  mind.  You 
mothers  ought  to  take  a  more  active  interest  in  your  schools  and 
see  what  kind  of  minds  your  teachers  have.  Even  school  teach- 
ers are  not  always  just  the  proper  associates  for  little  children 
and  need  to  have  their  own  point  of  view  enlarged  or  be  weeded 
out. 

Study  the  subject.  Buy  books  on  it.  Bead  articles  on  it.  Get 
physicians  to  come  to  your  clubs  and  instruct  you.  Get  free 
from  the  taint  of  the  subject.  Eemember  that  God  gave  you  all 
your  body  and  not  all  parts  but  one. 

Be  earnest  and  prayerful  and  sincere  and  clean. 

THE  RIGHT  OF  THE  CHILD  TO  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  SEX. 

From  the  Educator's  Standpoint. 

BY  MISS  JESSIE  PHELPS. 

The  child  has  a  right  to  demand  such  knowledge  as  shall  make 
his  life  endeavor  most  sure  of  success,  and  parents  and  teach- 
ers, therefore,  have  it  as  their  duty  to  see  to  it  that  the  main 
streams  of  knowledge  are  made  to  flow  to  him.  Many  have  pre- 
viously said,  and  some  still  say,  concerning  early  instruction  in 
sex,  "let  the  children  remain  innocent  as  long  as  they  can;  they 
will  learn  the  awful  truth  soon  enough,"  as  though  the  knowing 
of  the  truth  were  damning.  They  seemingly  forget  or  fail  to 
understand  what  Jesus  said,  "The  truth  shall  make  you  free," 
or  is  it  that  they  see  only  the  truth  perverted — sin — of  which 
they  may  rightly  be  ashamed?  Now,  knowledge  binds  the  re- 
cipient over  to  the  application  of  that  knowledge;  it  is  one  of 
the  saving  graces.  A  little  knowledge — unrelated — may  be  dan- 
gerous, but  full  knowledge,  showing  relationship  and  meaning, 
is  a  light  and  guide ;  hence  we  are  recommending  definite,  scien- 
tific instruction  in  connection  with  one  of  the  most  fundamental 
of  the  sciences. 

The  old  method  of  letting  the  child  alone  in  his  life  explora- 


424  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

tions  has  resulted  usually  in  his  finding,  and  that  right  early, 
only  the  distorted  and  untrue.  Let  us  try  a  new  method.  We 
can  scarcely  make  things  worse. 

When  our  boys  and  girls  leave  the  high  school  at  eighteen  or 
nineteen  years  of  age,  they  should  have  a  broadly  intelligent 
view  of  human  society ;  a  healthful  attitude  toward  the  opposite 
sex ;  they  should  know  what  marriage  means,  and  understand  the 
general  nature  of  all  the  vital  physiological  processes.  That  is, 
they  should  know  among  other  things  the  laws  of  sex,  both  in 
their  social  and  personal  applications. 

What  are  some  of  the  most  fundamental  of  these  laws  of  sex? 
First,  perhaps,  we  may  mention  the  simple  yet  relatively  new 
one  that  all  life  comes  from  an  egg.  The  bearing  of  this  law 
is  felt  only  when  one  understands  how  universal  it  is.  My  stu- 
dents in  biology  bear  witness,  year  after  year,  to  the  surprise, 
satisfaction  and  enlightenment  which  this  simple  statement  car- 
ries with  it,  namely,  that  snails,  earthworms,  rabbits,  plants  and 
man  produce  eggs.  A  second  law  states  that  male  and  female 
are  found  among  the  lowest  animals  and  plants  as  well  as  the 
highest,  but  with  increasing  complexity  and  positiveness  as  we 
ascend  the  scale.  A  third  law  is  the  union  of  the  male  and  fe- 
male elements  is  necessary  to  the  formation  of  new  beings. 

These  and  other  similar  laws  unify  all  nature ;  make  man  akin 
to  all  other  living  things,  plants  as  well  as  animals ;  help  to  es- 
tablish a  theory  of  development ;  give  reasonableness  to  our  evo- 
lutionary philosophy,  which  above  all  puts  hope  into  human  en- 
deavor and  faith  into  the  laws  of  the  universe.  And  especially 
do  these  laws,  when  fully  comprehended  create,  for  the  repro- 
ductive processes,  a  respect  so  sadly  lacking. 

Specifically,  what  has  the  school  to  do  about  the  teaching  of 
these  matters?  Everything  in  the  world,  if  the  premises  just 
stated  are  correct;  for  the  alleged  purpose  of  the  school  is  to 
make  as  nearly  perfect  men  and  women  as  is  possible.  More- 
over, since  the  school  age  is  also  the  period  of  adolescence  and 
the  teachers  see  more  of  the  boys  and  girls  during  these  years 
than  the  parents,  the  school  cannot  help  wielding  an  influence, 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  425 

for  l '  There  is  on  other  such  state  of  utter  plasticity,  such  hunger 
for  counsel  and  advice, "  says  G.  Stanley  Hall,  "as  comes  in 
early  adolescence"  (" Adolescence, "  Vol.  L,  page  463). 

As  to  the  best  possible  methods  and  material  to  be  used  in  giv- 
ing the  laws  of  sex  in  their  correct  setting  much  still  remains  to 
be  tried.  The  nature  study  material  of  the  grades  can  be  easily 
and  profitably  utilized.  Observational  work  on  the  commoner 
forms  of  animals  and  plants  may  be  given,  illustrating  the  meth- 
ods of  reproduction,  home-making  and  care  of  offspring.  Toads, 
bees,  rabbits,  the  domestic  animals  and  the  garden  vegetables 
and  flowers  are  always  available.  Such  topics  as  the  marriage 
flight  of  the  bees,  the  use  of  the  drones,  the  egg-laying  of  the 
queen,  and  the  development  of  the  young  should  be  taught  as 
part  of,  though  of  course  by  no  means  the  whole  of,  the  work  of 
the  hive.  The  various  methods  of  reproduction  should  be  com- 
pared, as  are  also  the  various  methods  of  getting  food  and  air, 
and  in  exactly  the  same  free,  frank  and  unabashed  way. 

To  know  these  laws  is  to  understand  and  sympathize  with  the 
world  in  which  we  live,  not  only  the  world  of  men  and  women, 
but  the  entire  world  of  living  things,  for  all  animals  and  plants, 
except  the  very  lowest,  live  according  to  the  same  plan.  "Male 
and  female ' '  binds  mankind  into  one  and  'explains  how  human 
society  came  into  existence.  To  obey  these  laws  is  to  adjust  our 
lives  to  each  other,  to  create  happiness  and  to  improve  future 
generations. 

THE  CHILD'S  RIGHT  TO  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  SEX. 

From  the  Religious  Standpoint. 
BY   EVANGELIST   FLORENCE   ETHEL   SMITH. 

As  soon  as  a  human  life  comes  into  the  world  it  is  full  of  in- 
terrogation points.  The  helpless  babe  as  it  is  placed  in  its 
mother's  arms  for  the  first  time  immediately  tries  to  find  all  it 
can  in  the  great  world. 

And  everyone  to  whom  God  has  intrusted  the  little  life  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  thoughts  that  are  entertained  by  the  child. 


426  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

A  time  comes  in  the  life  of  every  child  where  it  does  not  trust 
entirely  to  the  guidance  of  the  parents  or  teacher,  unless  such  is 
satisfactory  to  it.  The  child  is  a  bundle  of  curiosity  and  it  de- 
mands a  satisfactory  answer  to  its  inquiries. 

In  many  cases  the  mother  has  had  instilled  in  her  life  and 
thought  the  idea  that  anything  pertaining  to  the  sexes  or  sexual 
relation  must  never  be  discussed,  as  it  is  the  greatest  breach  in 
immodesty.  So  when  questions  that  any  child  would  naturally 
ask  are  propounded,  it  is  immediately  hushed,  with  the  idea  that 
such  things  are  too  obscene  to  be  mentioned  or  some  fairy  tale 
of  the  stork  or  doctor  is  given.  The  mother  then  goes  about  her 
work,  secure  in  her  opinion  that  she  has  settled  a  very  disagree- 
able subject. 

What  bearing  does  the  knowledge  of  sex  have  upon  the  child 
from  a  religious  viewpoint?  In  Philippians,  4:8,  we  read: 
"Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever 
things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are 
of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there  be  any  praise, 
think  on  these  things. " 

Whatsoever  things  are  true.  God's  way  is  not  to  lie  at  any 
time.  A  parent  will  punish  a  child  for  a  lie,  and  all  the  time 
that  child  knows  its  parents  have  been  lying  to  him. 

In  a  western  town  I  was  having  a  childrens'  meeting,  scores 
of  children  were  yielding  to  the  spirit  of  God,  and  with  tear- 
stained  faces  they  were  kneeling,  asking  the  Savior  to  forgive 
their  sins,  and  to  save  them.  From  what  I  have  seen,  no  one 
can  make  me  think  that  a  child  of  five  or  six  years  of  age  does 
not  understand  what  the  saving  power  of  Christ  means.  On 
this  occasion  I  noticed  a  little  girl  of  ten  years,  who  had  her 
lips  curled  sneeringly  and  scornfully.  A  terrible  expression  to 
be  on  the  face  of  a  sweet  girl,  where  nothing  should  be  seen  but 
the  smile  of  girlish  purity. 

I  spoke  to  her  and  asked  if  she  didn't  want  Jesus  in  her  heart. 
She  gave  a  forced  laugh,  and  said:  "I  don't  believe  in  any  of 
that  stuff.  Folks  think  they  can  stuff  us  children,  but  I  know 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  427 

enough  to  not  swallow  everything  any  more."  I  saw  something 
was  wrong,  so  I  had  a  talk  with  her  after  the  meeting.  I  put  my 
arms  arout  her,  let  her  nestle  up  to  me,  and  told  her  I  knew  she 
had  been  deceived  some  time,  and  had  lost  faith  in  everything, 
and  that  I  wanted  to  help  her.  Her  lips  quivered  as  she  said, 
"Miss  Smith,  it  is  awful  to  say,  but  it  is  because  of  mamma. 
She  has  been  telling  me  lies  ever  since  I  have  been  old  enough  to 
ask  her  questions.  She  says  she  is  a  Christian,  and  tells  me 
about  Jesus.  But  I  know  she  is  lying  to  me,  like  she  has  every- 
thing else.  When  I  asked  her  about  Christmas  presents  she 
told  me  of  Santa  Claus  and  tried  to  make  me  believe  it.  Then  I 
found  out  the  truth,  and  told  her.  She  laughed  and  said  she 
wondered  how  soon  I  would  find  it  out.  Then  one  day  I  asked 
her  how  babies  came,  and  she  told  me  the  doctor  found  them  in 
a  haystack  and  left  them  at  houses  when  the  mammas  were  sick. 
Well,  you  know  I  wouldn't  be  at  school  very  long  before  I 
learned  how  horrid  folks  are  in  order  to  get  them.  And  then.  I 
knew  she  was  too  ashamed  to  tell  me  the  truth.  One  time  I  asked 
her  the  difference  between  boys  and  girls,  and  she  told  me  the 
difference  was  in  the  clothes  they  wore  and  the  names  given 
them.  One  day  at  school  I  was  telling  some  little  boys  and  girls 
what  mamma  told  me  was  the  difference.  One  of  the  girls 
laughed  and  said  I  was  pretty  green.  She  then  told  me  the  dif- 
ference. Then  mamma  talked  to  me  of  Jesus  and  I  don 't  believe 
in  that  any  more  than  the  rest. 

If  being  a  Christian  makes  a  person  tell  the  truth  and  quit 
being  dirty  and  mean,  why  does  my  mother  tell  me  lies,  and  why 
is  she  so  horrid  as  to  let  babies  come  ?  I  don 't  believe  in  it,  and 
those  other  kids,  that  were  crying,  just  showed  how  green  they 
are." 

What  a  terrible  story  to  come  from  a  little  maid  of  ten.  My 
heart  went  out  to  this  poor  child,  who  had  never  been  told  the 
truth.  What  she  knew  was  through  distorted  vision,  because  her 
mother  was  not  true  to  her.  Then  I  told  her  what  a  mistake  it  all 
was.  But  I  had  to  start  from  the  beginning.  I  asked  her  if  she 
had  seen  the  difference  in  flowers,  and  how  God  planned  the  pol- 


428  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

len  to  fall  upon  the  pistils,  so  that  a  seed  could  be  formed.  Then 
step  by  step,  I  had  to  lead  her  until  she  could  see  the  same  divine 
provision  in  human  lives ;  that  He  did  not  intend  the  organs  of 
sex  to  be  regarded  as  impure,  but  as  sacred,  as  it  was  the  most 
sacred  thing  in  the  world,  to  have  the  human  pistil  receive  the 
human  pollen  in  order  that  the  world  should  be  replenished  with 
life. 

That  both  pistil  and  stamens  should  be  carefully  guarded, 
until  the  love  that  God  intended  between  man  and  woman  should 
unite  them. 

That  God's  plan  was  holy — He  never  intended  an  impure 
thought  or  act,  but  when  people  would  let  sin  in  their  lives  they 
did  not  treat  sex  as  sacred,  but  as  something  for  amusement. 

And  then  I  talked  of  Jesus,  how  God  sent  Him  in  the  world 
to  take  the  impurity  out  of  lives  and  to  make  them  pure  and 
holy,  and  how  He  wanted  the  children  and  wanted  her  life.  Then 
she  cried,  and  said:  "Oh,  I  have  been  so  wicked.  Why  didn't 
mamma  let  Jesus  make  her  truthful.  Jesus  won't  forgive  me; 
I  have  been  so  mean  to  him."  But  we  knelt  in  prayer,  and  she 
let  Christ  with  his  purifying  power,  into  her  young  life,  and  then 
said:  "Oh,  if  I  had  only  been  told  the  real  truth,  how  much  bet- 
ter it  would  have  been.  I  would  not  have  hated  God  and  been  so 
ashamed  of  having  been  born." 

Was  that  girl's  innocence  kept  because  of  silence  or  lies  be- 
ing told  by  her  mother? 

Is  there  any  virtue  or  praise  in  this  deceit  or  in  being  true  to 
the  child?  Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are 
honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just ;  if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if 
there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things. 

Do  we  by  our  silence  give  the  child  a  fair  chance  to  think  on 
these  things  when  we  keep  still  because  of  "modesty?" 

Is  it  just  to  the  child  to  keep  it  in  ignorance  of  what  it  means 
to  be  a  boy  or  girl,  a  man  or  woman?  Should  not  we  who  wish  to 
see  the  child  have  the  right  development  and  growth  in  Christian 
living  have  them  understand  what  is  meant  in  I.  Cor.,  3:16-18. 
"Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  429 

of  God  dwelleth  in  you?  If  any  man  defile  the  temple  of  God, 
him  shall  God  destroy;  for  the  temple  of  God  is  holy,  which 
temple  ye  are.  Let  no  man  deceive  himself. ' ' 

Christ  surely  intends  the  child  to  keep  itself  as  holy  as  an  old- 
er person.  The  child  should  early  be  taught  that  he  is  to  keep 
himself  holy,  for  the  Master  to  have  a  fit  dwelling.  The  imag- 
ination of  the  child  is  always  active  and  if  the  thought  can  ever 
be  uppermost  to  keep  impure  thoughts  from  being  entertained, 
to  guard  carefully  and  holy  everything  pertaining  to  sex,  for  the 
purpose  of  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  for  no  one  to 
deceive  himself  in  thinking  he  can  keep  pure,  at  the  same  time 
experimenting  with  that  which  should  be  guarded  instead  of 
handled. 

How  many  times  has  a  girl  simply  lost  out  because  she  did  not 
know  what  caused  her  to  feel  so  strangely  bewildered  and  de- 
lightful when  her  hand  came  in  contact  with  one  of  the  other  sex. 
As  I  have  seen  girls  in  their  games  or  fun  happen  to  be  touched 
in  a  way  that  awoke  within  them  dormant  passions,  and  then 
they  called  it  love.  What  a  mistake !  She  really  is  in  love  with 
love,  not  the  youth  who  did  not  regard  her  sacred. 

She  now  is  in  a  state,  lifted  above  the  commonplace  things; 
she  lives  as  in  a  dream;  she  gives  and  receives  the  first  kiss; 
it  seems  to  burn  deep  into  her  very  soul ;  that  first  kiss  causes 
her  to  put  all  confidence  in  him,  or  why  should  she  feel  so  deep- 
ly stirred?  She  knows  that  kiss  means  love;  she  would  not  be- 
lieve it  was  given  because  of  the  pleasurable  sensation  the  boy 
received.  Then  on  and  on,  deeper  and  deeper  she  gets  into  his 
toils,  spends  hours  in  his  arms ;  to  her  it  seems  a  bit  of  heaven ; 
to  him,  it  is  great  sport,  and  he  is  having  fun  because  she  is  so 
easy. 

This  girl  does  not  understand  the  cause  of  it  all ;  she  does  not 
understand  that  it  is  simply  contact  between  the  sexes ;  that  she 
could  experience  the  same  sensations  with  another  boy ;  but  now 
she  is  on  the  danger  line.  Yes,  she  knows  why  some  girls  have 
been  disgraced,  but,  oh,  no,  she  can't  see  how  they  could  have 
done  it. 


430  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

But  the  hour  comes ;  she  has  almost  lost  her  senses  in  the  in- 
toxication of  his  arms ;  he  whispers  words  of  love  and  endear- 
ment to  her ;  she  is  willing  to  give  him  her  life ;  a  suggestion  is 
made.  It  startles  her,  but  he  pleads ;  can't  she  trust  him?  Isn't 
she  willing  to  show  her  love  for  him,  and  haven't  vows  been 
exchanged?  That  is  all  there  is  to  marriage  anyway — only  a 
minister  asks  them.  But  they  can  be  married  as  truly  now  as 
before  witnesses.  And  won't  he  marry  her  anyway  in  the  eyes 
of  the  law  as  soon  as  his  finances  are  better.  And  doesn't  she 
know  that  every  one — preachers  included — have  their  brides-to- 
be  show  their  trust  in  them,  before  marriage,  to  show  their 
purity.  He  at  last  has  accomplished  his  purpose — the  price  of 
her  virtue  has  dropped  now ;  he  is  sure  of  her.  It  is  not  long  be- 
fore the  reality  of  it  all  comes  to  her  with  a  shock.  She  must  tell 
him,  and  yet  it  is  so  hard.  She  insists  upon  an  immediate  mar- 
riage, in  order  to  save  her  name.  He  suggests  another  remedy. 
He  will  help  her  get  rid  of  her  shame.  It  may  cost  her  life  or  she 
may  recover  from  her  attack  of  l '  appendicitis. ' '  But,  oh,  what 
does  it  mean  when  this  girl  wants  to  get  right  with  God  1  Hear 
her  cry,  "My  hands  are  red  with  innocent  blood.  Will  there  be 
forgiveness  for  such  as  I?" 

Yes,  Christ  came  to  save  such  as  she,  but  so  many  times,  since 
her  confidence  in  man  has  gone,  so  has  her  faith  in  God,  and  she 
blames  God  for  it  all.  Where  is  the  trouble  ?  Ah,  little  girl,  if 
your  mother,  or  some  one,  had  let  you  know  you  shouldn't  go 
cheap,  or  so  easy,  that  the  "  price  of  a  virtuous  woman  is  far 
above  rubies;"  your  trust  would  be  in  God,  and  such  bitter  suf- 
fering would  not  have  been. 

What  of  him  who  so  fiendishly  set  out  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose? What  kind  of  information  has  he  had? 

We  see  him  as  he  starts  away  from  his  mother — a  little  lad  of 
five  or  six;  his  first  day  in  school.  His  curious  mind  has  been 
asking  questions,  but  his  mother  has  wanted  that  look  of  inno- 
cence to  remain  upon  his  face.  She  gives  him  a  good-bye  kiss,  as 
she  sighs,  and  says,  "I  have  no  baby  boy  any  more."  But  how 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  431 

unprepared  is  he  to  mingle  with  other  children,  whose  minds  are 
already  blackened  with  impure  thoughts. 

It  is  not  long  before  he  looks  at  his  mother  and  thinks  what 
a  fool  she  is.  Yes,  she  has  tried  to  instill  into  his  life  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  but  her  work  was  incomplete.  Now  he  learns  that  to 
be  a  real  boy — a  man — he  must  laugh  at  such  teachings;  he 
cares  not  for  the  things  holy.  He  has  acquired  bad  habits ;  be- 
fore he  is  in  his  teens  he  is  the  victim  of  self-abuse.  He  now 
considers  it  manly  to  tell  what  he  can  do  to  girls ;  he  hears  other 
fellows  boast  of  it.  He  must,  in  order  to  appear  big.  He 
boasts  that  he  can  have  in  his  power  a  certain  girl  that  all  know 
is  all  right,  and  after  a  time,  he  succeeds.  He  must  go  with  the 
boys  into  the  red  light  district,  even  before  he  is  out  of  his  teens. 

What  about  Christ,  the  church,  the  Bible?  He  laughs  at  it. 
He  boasts  of  being  an  infidel,  or  a  new  thought  man,  something 
at  least  that  will  gloss  over  his  wickedness.  And  let  me  say 
right  here,  I  never  have  met  a  man  or  woman  who  said  they  did 
not  believe  in  God 's  word  but  investigation  showed  a  rotten  life. 

This  man  may  attend  some  special  meeting  and  feel  convicted 
of  his  sin.  But  he  withstands  God  and  Christ's  pleadings  nine 
cases  out  of  ten.  Too  much  restitution. 

Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest, 
whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatso- 
ever things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report; 
if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these 
things. 

The  one  thing  that  keeps  the  majority  of  young  men  from  com- 
ing to  Christ  is  their  double  lives,  and  so  much  wrong  to  be 
righted. 

From  childhood  up  they  had  a  wrong  conception  of  them- 
selves, and  of  womankind.  They  have  considered  it  their  priv- 
ilege to  attack  the  purity  of  any  woman,  and  they  consider  it 
woman's  privilege  to  withstand  him,  if  she  can.  They  believe  it 
will  stimulate  their  manhood  to  wreck  a  sweet  life,  and  they  are 
kept  from  the  Saviour.  They  have  "deceived  themselves," 


432  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

they  have  "defiled  the  temple  of  God,"  and  God's  condemnation 
is  over  them;  "him  shall  God  destroy." 

The  purity  of  sacred  care  of  the  "temple  of  God,"  the  loveli-^ 
ness  of   God,  as  He  is  love — let  us  think  on  these  things. 

The  child  has  a  right  to  know  God,  our  Father,  in  His  purity 
and  loveliness,  and  he  or  she  cannot  get  this  conception  unless 
they  have  the  knowledge  of  the  sacredness  of  God's  plans  and 
His  creation. 

THE  CHILD'S  RIGHT  TO  A  KNOWLEDGE  OF  SEX. 

From  the  Physician's  Standpoint. 

BY  JOSEPHINE  E.  YOUNG,  M.  D. 

Sex  problems  in  children  manifest  themselves  in  at  least  five 
phases — vicious  knowledge,  vice,  vicious  habits  or  masturba- 
tion, venereal  diseases  and  sex  perversion,  which  develops  with 
early  adolescence. 

In  dealing  with  the  subject  of  vicious  knowledge  it  is  neces- 
sary to  rely  upon  the  opinions  of  those  whose  work  brings  them 
into  touch  with  large  groups  of  children  rather  than  upon  statis- 
tical knowledge,  which,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  cannot  be  had. 
The  following  facts  have  been  obtained  from  Mrs.  Amigh,  su- 
perintendent of  the  Training  School  for  Delinquent  Girls  at 
Geneva,  Illinois;  Miss  Harriet  Fulmer,  superintendent  of  the 
Visiting  Nurses'  Association;  Mrs.  Britton,  of  Hull  House, 
closely  connected  with  the  juvenile  court;  Miss  Sears,  of  the 
United  Charities;  Miss  Hagan,  superintendent  of  a  "Home" 
for  the  care  of  little  children  suffering  from  venereal  diseases, 
and  Mr.  W.  L.  Bodine,  superintendent  of  the  Compulsory  Edu- 
cation Department  of  the  Board  of  Education — excepting  Mrs. 
Amigh,  all  of  Chicago. 

These  authorities  are  practically  united  in  the  statement  that 
75  per  cent  of  all  children  have  a  vicious  knowledge  of  sex  mat- 
ters before  they  are  ten  years  of  age.  One  of  the  5-year-old 
boys  in  Miss  Hagan 's  "Home"  had  a  knowledge  of  sex  incred- 
ibly vile  and  mature,  which  he  was  teaching  every  other  child 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  433 

with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  was  not  a  degenerate,  but 
an  active  and  imaginative  little  boy.  The  mind  of  the  degener- 
ate child  dwells  instinctively  upon  this  phase  of  life  and  he  is 
therefore  a  menace  to  every  normal  child  that  he  touches. 

Vice,  too,  among  children  is  vastly  more  common  than  is  gen- 
erally known.  It  is  almost  universal,  for  instance,  in  the  Chi- 
cago ghetto.  One  degenerate  girl  of  seven  years  was1  discovered 
demoralizing  six  little  boys  in  the  kindergarten  of  her  school. 
All  her  hard-earned  pennies  and  treasures  were  devoted  to  this 
purpose.  These  children  are  usually  clever  in  concealing 
their  evil  practices,  which  take  place  not  in  the  school,  but  in 
barns,  under  sidewalks  and  in  other  out-of-the-way  places. 
Groups  of  children  in  the  suburbs,  where  parents  fancy  their 
children  safe,  have  been  found  going  together  to  some  unused 
house  or  barn  for  evil  purposes.  This  is  by  no  means-  uncom- 
mon and  occurs  among  all  classes. 

Vicious  habits,  or  the  practice  of  self -abuse,  develops  in  var- 
ious ways;  local  disorders,  careless  adjustment  of  clothing  and 
unscrupulous  nurses  are  responsible  for  some  of  it  among  lit- 
tle children.  Ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  mother,  however,  and 
an  unwillingness  to  recognize  it  when  it  does  exist,  permit  this 
very  serious  evil  to  develop  in  a  child  a  train  of  nervous  symp- 
toms and  a  physical  and  moral  inertia,  which  robs  him  of  the 
power  to  cope  with  his  fellows  of  even  average  grade.  Every 
teacher  should  be  taught  that  stunted  growth,  inattention,  loss 
of  memory,  deceitfulness,  listlessness  or  extreme  restlessness, 
or  loss  of  sleep,  indicate  the  possibility  at  least  of  vicious,  habits. 

There  is  a  phase  of  this  instinct  very  little  recognized  which 
appears  among  girls  at  early  adolescence,  extending  sometimes 
through  college  life.  It  reveals  itself  as  an  absorbing  affection 
of  one  girl  for  another  or  for  an  older  woman.  It  is  abnormal 
and  unwholesome  and  should  be  positively  dealt  with  as  a  mani- 
festation of  sex  perversion. 

Drunkenness  is  responsible  for  many  of  the  grossly  unnatural 
acts  between  the  old  and  the  very  young,  but  it  has  a  bearing  in 
quite  another  way.  Inebriety  in  the  parent  often  expresses 

28 


434  EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL 

itself  as  sexual  vice  in  a  child  by  inheritance  of  degeneracy. 
Most  of  the  girls  at  Geneva  have  had  drunken  fathers  or 
mothers. 

"Poverty,"  says  Judge  Mack,  "is  the  greatest  source  of  the 
sexual  evil."  One,  two  or  perhaps  three  room  tenement,  in 
which  the  commonest  decencies  of  life  cannot  be  observed,  are 
inevitable  schools  of  vice.  Miss  Fulmer,  of  the  Visiting  Nurses' 
Association,  with  the  corps  of  splendid  self-sacrificing  women,  is 
working  gallantly  to  relieve  every  form  of  physical  and  moral 
distress  that  may  be  encountered  among  the  poor  sick.  "But," 
she  says,  "I  feel  that  we  are  working  at  the  wrong  end.  If  only 
something  could  be  done  to  put  on  a  righteous  basis  the  terrible 
tenement  problem  I  should  be  willing,  if  necessary,  to  lay  down 
all  the  work  I  have  struggled  so  to  build  up,  for  I  am  sure  that 
the  root  of  the  trouble  is  there." 

Bead  Miss  Jane  Addam's  latest  book,  "The  Spirit  of  Youth 
and  the  City  Streets, ' '  a  most  sympathetic  and  illuminating  vol- 
ume, which  no  one  having  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  adolescent 
can  afford  to  pass  by.  Here  she  brings  out  what  seems  to  be  an 
almost  contradictory  fact,  that  the  Italian  girl,  though  often  a 
one-room  tenement  product  is  less  contaminated  than  girls  who 
live  in  larger  quarters  and  apparently  better  surroundings.  In 
fact,  most  of  Mrs.  Amigh's  girls  are  children  whose  fathers  earn 
$2.50  a  day  or  more,  while  but  six  out  of  these  sixteen  hundred 
girls  have  been  Italians — this  number  including  all  that  have  at 
any  time  been  in  the  school.  The  juvenile  court  records  bare 
the  same  fine  testimony  to  the  virtue  of  the  Italian  home.  The 
reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  Italian  girls  are  jealously 
guarded  by  their  parents,  kept  off  the  streets  and  married  as 
early  as  possible.  The  daughters  of  the  poor  of  other  national- 
ities have  the  liberty  of  public  dance  halls,  open  air  amusement 
parks  and  the  cheapest  of  theatres.  The  daughters  of  the  mid- 
dle class  and  of  the  rich  are  equally  unprotected  and  can  be 
found  by  hundreds  in  down-town  hotels,  living  vicious  lives. 
Their  parents  are  engrossed  in  their  own  pursuits,  it  may  be 
business,  a  club  life,  a  philanthropic  endeavor  or  church  activity. 


EVERY  BOY  AND  GIRL  435 

The  old  prophet  crystallized  the  experience  of  many  a  modern 
parent,  passing  through  the  tragedy  of  a  home  shattered  by  sin : 
"And  as  thy  servant  was  busy  here  and  there  he  was  gone." 

To  recapitulate,  we  have  as  causes  lack  of  general  moral  train- 
ing and  self-control,  ignorance,  indifference,  vulgarity,  inebriety 
and  degeneracy  on  the  part  of  parents,  unobserving  teachers 
and  principals,  ignorant  of  sexual  hygiene,  the  unwatched  toilet 
rooms  at  schools,  vicious  men,  women  and  children  spreading 
broadcast  vicious  knowledge,  public  dance  halls,  open  air  amuse- 
ment parks,  cheap  theatres  and  the  open  streets. 

It  is  plainly  the  duty  of  the  state  to  control  the  abuse  of  aico- 
holism,  to  legislate  for  proper  housing  and  a  sufficient  wage; 
for  the  municipality  to  provide  more  efficient  truant,  police  and 
parole  officers,  to  provide  and  supervise  playgrounds  and  parks, 
and  for  the  schools  to  supervise  toilet  rooms  and  to  investigate 
the  writing  of  all  obscene  words  or  phrases  on  surrounding 
structures  till  the  source  is  found. 

Fathers  and  mothers  should  educate  themselves  in  general 
physiology,  sex  physiology  and  methods  of  reproduction  in  the 
lower  forms  of  life,  and  should  teach  their  children  as  occasion 
arises,  or  as  a  part  of  nature  study  in  specially  planned  outing 
excursions. 

Small  groups  of  fathers  or  mothers  should  be  taught  facts  of 
sexual  hygiene  in  churches,  settlements  and  clubs  and  the  visit- 
ing nurse  can  be  of  inestimable  value  in  overcoming  the  ignor- 
ance and  prejudice  of  those  parents  who  will  not  read  or  go  out- 
side of  their  home  to  get  such  instruction. 

Teachers  should  understand  the  science  of  reproduction  and 
the  evil  results  of  vicious  habits  and  will  some  day  make  this 
subject  part  of  their  biological  curriculum. 

Modern  medicine  is  essentially  preventive  medicine.  Not  till 
there  is  deep  conviction  of  public  sin  because  of  the  public 's 
neglect  of  its  young,  and  not  till  there  is  born  into  the  soul  of  the 
community  and  into  the  individual's  soul  a  deep  sense  of  heart 
righteousness  and  purity  will  the  medical  problem  be  solved 
from  the  preventive  side. 


CHAPTER  XXX.. 

"AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION  WORTH  A  POUND  OF  CURE." 

By  B.  S.  Steadwell,  Pres.  American  Purity  Federation— Editor  of 
"The  Light." 

"Why  didn't  mother  tell  me,"  the  pathetic  tale  of  a  young  girl  and  the 
awful  result  of  ignorance — "If  Dad  had  only  told  me  about  these  things" 
— How  a  young  man's  life  was  ruined — "Wild  oats"  and  what  they  bring. 

"Better  guide  well  the  young  than  reclaim  them  when  old, 

For  the  voice  of  true  wisdom  is  calling: 
'To  rescue  the  fallen  is  good,  but  'tis  best 
To  prevent  other  people  from  falling.' 
Better  close  up  the  source  of  temptation  and  crime, 

That  deliver  from  dungeon  or  galley; 
Better  put  a  strong  fence  'round  the  top  of  the  cliff 
Than  an  ambulance  down  in  the  valley." 

Some  years  ago  a  young  Scandinavian  woman  of  more  than 
usual  intelligence  and  of  great  beauty  applied  for  shelter  at  a 
home  of  refuge.  She  was  not  yet  seventeen  years  of  age  and 
appeared  to  be  in  deep  trouble.  Upon  being  admitted  by  the 
kind-hearted  matron,  she  related  a  story  of  deepest  pathos,  tell- 
ing how,  under  pressure  of  love  and  the  promise  of  marriage 
she  had  yielded  to  the  demand  of  a  young  man,  and  that  her 
physician  had  just  told  her  she  would  soon  become  a  mother 
and  was  herself  afflicted  with  one  of  the  worst  of  physical  mala- 
dies. Now  that  she  had  found  a  home  and  her  mind  was  free 
to  grasp  her  situation,  a  reaction  came  that  was  most  pitiful, 
and  in  her  intensity  of  grief  and  almost  delirious  condition,  she 
continually  exclaimed,  "Why  didn't  mother  tell  me!"  "Oh, 
if  I  had  only  known!"  She  was  not,  in  any  sense,  of  a  criminal 
or  degenerate  type,  and  undoubtedly  "mother"  was  largely 
responsible  for  this  girl's  downfall.  Our  mission  workers  in 
the  large  cities  as  they  endeavor  to  rescue  and  help  the  unfortim- 

436 


"AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION"  437 

ate  girls,  meet  with  these  same  exclamations  in  almost  every 
case. 

A  few  months  ago  a  young  soldier  came  to  the  office  of  the 
writer  seeking  help.  He  was  seemingly  of  superb  manhood, 
handsome  build,  was  a  high  school  graduate  and  unusually 
bright.  He,  too,  had  just  come  from  the  office  of  a  physician 
who  had  informed  him  that  the  disease  contracted  three  years 
ago  in  a  brothel  had  run  too  long  and  was  now  incurable.  From 
the  drugs  he  had  taken  his  hair  was  falling  out,  his  teeth  were 
loosened,  pain  racked  his  body,  and  the  stench  of  ulcers  was 
nauseating.  Here  was  a  young  giant  who  might  have  accom- 
plished most  anything  he  had  set  his  hand  and  heart  to,  ruined 
for  life,  possibly  for  eternity — the  victim  of  vice,  and  later  of 
the  quack  doctor.  This  young  man  said  to  me  as  the  hopeless- 
ness of  his  case  drove  him  to  honest  confession:  "If  Dad  had 
only  told  me  about  these  things,  I  wouldn't  be  in  the  fix  I  am 
today;  but  he  never  once  spoke  to  me  about  leading  a  pure 
life,  and  my  eldest  brother  was  the  one  who  first  took  me  to  a 
house  of  shame. "  As  we  looked  him  squarely  in  the  face — a 
face  that  was  openly  frank  and  free  from  all  viciousness — and 
meditated  on  what  his  life  in  purity  might  have  meant  to  the 
world,  we  couldn't  help  but  believe  that  what  he  said  was  true, 
and  had  he  known  the  dangers  of  the  "wild  oats"  life,  he  would 
have  been  saved,  and  then  we  wished  for  some  sort  of  a  new 
wireless  instrument  that  could  send  a  billion  messages  at  once 
that  we  might  reach  every  father's  heart  in  the  world  with  the 
words  of  this  boy 's  pitiful  lament :  "If  Dad  had  only  told  me ! " 

Rescue  work  and  curative  effort  are  good,  and  hearts  must 
be  cold  indeed  that  cannot  enthuse  and  warm  over  one  boy  or 
girl  snatched  from  evil  ways;  but  when  you  ponder  that  for 
every  one  thus  rescued,  another  victim  is  exacted  to  fill  the  place 
made  vacant,  and  when  you  consider  the  testimony  of  the  most 
experienced  workers  as  to  the  extreme  difficulty  in  the  perma- 
nent reformation  of  the  libertine  or  the  harlot,  it  must  be  granted 
that  the  most  important  and  valuable  work  is  not  the  curative 


438  AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION 

but  the  preventive.  To  check  the  Social  Evil  and  the  traffic  in 
girls  we  must  first  study  their  causes,  and  then  apply  our  effort 
toward  the  eradication  of  those  causes.  Here  especially  the  old 
adage  is  true  that  "An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of 


cure." 


Seeking  out  the  causes  of  the  Social  Evil  is  no  small  matter 
and  even  a  cursory  discussion  of  them  would  require  a  volume 
as  large  as  this  one.  While  it  is  said  by  some  that  this  cause  or 
that  is  the  real  contributing  factor  to  this  worst  of  evils,  so  far 
as  individual  impurity  is  concerned  the  causes  are  as  wide  and  as 
varied  as  the  causes  of  sin  itself;  public  vice  and  immorality 
has  but  one  root  cause,  and  that  is  well  expressed  by  the  triplet, 
— graft,  greed  and  gain.  But  it  is  an  interesting  though  painful 
study  to  endeavor  to  ferret  out  the  causes  which  lead  so  large 
a  part  of  the  human  race  through  choice,  chance  or  compulsion 
into  lives  of  sexual  abuse,  which  can  mean  nothing  but  an  ex- 
istence of  despair,  disease  and  literal  death.  Be  it  said  to  the 
credit  of  those  who  are  undone  through  vice,  that  in  the  cases 
where  choice  has  played  an  important  part,  it  has  been  founded 
upon  a  wrong  conception  and  ignorance  of  the  results.  It  is 
difficult  for  us  to  know  in  any  case  the  definite  cause  or  causes 
that  has  brought  one  to  the  life  of  the  libertine  or  the  harlot,  it 
is  as  hard  for  the  victims  themselves  to  know,  though  they  may 
often  attribute  their  fall  to  some  specific  thing  or  act ;  but  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  while  very,  very  few  persons  ever  deliberately 
choose  the  life  of  either,  just  as  few  persons  choose  to  be  drunk- 
ards or  murderers,  they  do  consent  to  give  way  to  tendencies 
and  choose  to  dabble  with  temptations  that  are  bound  to  lead  to 
the  darker  life. 

Among  the  more  leading  influences  of  today  which  encourage 
social  and  personal  impurity  we  mention  the  following,  making 
no  attempt  to  give  them  in  the  order  of  their  importance :  The 
promiscuous  association  in  school  and  college  life;  the  associa- 
tion of  boys  and  girls  and  men  and  women  in  offices  and  fac- 
tories ;  the  liquor  traffic ;  increase  of  travel ;  increase  of  club  and 


AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION  439 

hotel  life;  the  spread  of  social  diseases;  the  gathering  of  our 
people  to  the  large  cities ;  the  popular  amusements  of  today  as 
represented  in  the  average  theatre,  the  cheap  show,  the  nickel- 
odeon, the  picture  machine,  the  public  dance  and  the  excursion, 
the  amusement  garden  and  parks,  the  street  carnival  and  fair; 
using  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  pleasure  rather  than  for  worship 
and  rest;  associations  of  the  street,  especially  during  evening 
hours ;  stimulation  to  love  of  dress  through  the  open  display  of 
finery  and  fashion  in  women's  attire;  segregated  and  officially 
sanctioned  and  "  regulated "  vice  areas  in  most  cities,  and  road- 
houses  in  country  districts ;  the  difficulty  of  women  once  enter- 
ing upon  a  life  of  shame  finding  employment  at  anything  else ; 
lack  of  instruction  as  to  the  sex  life,  and  failure  to  fully  warn 
as  to  the  dangers  and  temptations  to  be  encountered  by  the  boy 
and  girl ;  obscenity  in  literature  and  art ;  increase  in  the  use  of 
narcotics;  failure  of  our  common  schools  to  prepare  for  life 
rather  than  for  college  or  a  profession ;  the  increase  of  the  very 
poor  and  the  idle  rich;  insufficient  pay  to  girls  and  women; 
weakness  of  law  governing  marriage  and  divorce;  the  general 
delivery  practices  of  our  post-offices,  and  the  commercial  spirit 
which  everywhere  rules. 

In  the  enumeration  of  the  leading  causes  of  the  Social  Evil 
the  preventive  and  remedial  measures  have  already  been  sug- 
gested,— either  the  eradication  of  those  causes  or  the  adjust- 
ment of  such  as  may  be  adjusted  to  the  present  individual  busi- 
ness and  civic  life  so  that  no  evil  follows.  This  happy  result 
will  be  brought  about  through  at  least  four  leading  lines  of  ef- 
fort; the  educational,  the  religious,  the  medical,  and  the  legis- 
lative. As  most  of  these  remedial  forces  are  discussed  in  other 
chapters  of  this  book,  it  is  only  necessary  for  us  here  to  briefly 
state  the  several  lines  of  work  required. 

Educational.  As  rapidly  as  it  can  be  judiciously  and  safely 
accomplished,  every  person  should  receive  the  best  possible  in- 
struction in  relation  to  their  sexual  life.  They  should  know 
everything  knowable  pertaining  to  their  own  bodies,  including 
the  sexual  organs  and  functions,  as  well  as  the  whole  truth  rel- 


440  AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION 

ative  to  reproduction  in  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms. 
This  instruction  should  be  given  by  those  parents  who  are  pre- 
pared to  give  it  wisely,  in  schools  by  competent  instructors,  in 
Sunday  schools,  and  by  such  specialists  as  may  fit  themselves 
for  this  service.  The  discussions  as  to  whether  we  should  begin 
with  the  children  or  the  parents,  is  quite  irrelevant;  we  should 
begin  wherever  we  find  ignorance  and  there  is  an  opportunity 
offered  to  impart  knowledge  on  the  subject,  we  should  open  the 
way  for  every  person  be  they  child  or  parent  to  receive  the  truth 
which  may  mean  so  much  to  them  and  to  the  race.  If  the  proper 
instruction  could  be  given  to  every  person,  and  this  is  far  from 
being  an  impossible  accomplishment,  we  should  at  once  remove 
the  worst  of  the  inherited  causes  of  the  evil  we  seek  to  abate, 
and  render  far  less  dangerous  those  causes  which  lie  in  environ- 
ment. But  we  wish  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  we  must  reach 
the  people,  all  of  the  people  with  this  instruction,  parlor  meet- 
ings and  exclusive  circles  will  never  perform  the  work.  It  is  an 
encouraging  fact  that  instruction  in  sex  hygiene  is  so  generally 
given  today.  In  a  very  few  years  it  will  be  as  commonly  given 
as  that  of  any  other  branch  of  learning. 

Religious.  The  religious  and  the  reproductive  natures  are 
undoubtedly  closely  related.  The  religious  atmosphere  and  en- 
vironment form  a  most  perfect  setting  for  giving  the  plainest 
instruction  as  to  matters  of  sex  and  life.  Certain  churches 
have  found  this  true  and  have  guarded  well  the  lives  and  purity 
of  their  boys  and  girls.  It  is  a  fact  to  be  lamented  that  the  great 
body  of  the  church  has  totally  neglected  to  even  touch  this  ques- 
tion. There  is  no  other  institution  on  earth  even  from  the  view- 
point of  organization  alone,  so  able  and  so  well  prepared  to 
teach  the  whole  truth  pertaining  to  sex  and  to  equip  the  individ- 
ual with  powers  of  self-control,  for  the  old  phrase  vincit,  qui  se 
vincit  is  still  true  and  especially  applies  in  this  age  when  self- 
control  is  not  generally  held  up  as  a  thing  to  strive  for.  And 
when  the  Church,  backed  by  the  living  God  and  all  the  power  of 
the  spiritual  forces,  grasps  the  thought  that  it  is  its  principal 
function  to  prepare  its  people  for  life  that  they  may  be  pre- 


AN  OUNCE  OF  PREVENTION  441 

pared  for  death,  ignorance  which  fosters  vileness  will  be  largely 
done  away  with. 

Medical.  The  medical  profession  should  lend  its  best  efforts 
toward  the  cure  and  prevention  of  venereal  diseases.  No  mar- 
riage should  be  permitted  where  either  of  the  contracting  par- 
ties has  syphilis  or  gonococcus  infection.  Sterilization  should 
be  performed  upon  all  persons  possessing  criminal  or  vicious 
characteristics  that  will  positively  be  transmitted  to  offspring. 
Venereal  diseases,  known  to  be  contagious  and  communicable, 
should  be  made  reportable,  if  not  by  the  names  of  the  patients, 
then  in  some  way  whereby  reliable  statistics  may  be  gathered 
and  the  innocent  protected.  Quacks  and  quackery  should  be 
suppressed. 

Legislative.  Every  possible  law  should  be  enacted  and  en- 
forced in  nation,  state,  and  municipality  that  will  safeguard  the 
purity  of  our  homes  and  our  children.  We  now  have  many  good 
laws  such  as  the  federal  White  Slave  Traffic  Act  and  similar 
supporting  measures  in  various  states,  and  the  Iowa  Injunction 
and  Abatement  Law,  which  if  enforced  will  completely  eradi- 
cate the  traffic  in  girls  and  all  public  vice,  and  the  whole  attitude 
of  government  should  be  toward  the  suppression  of  vice,  no- 
where should  it  be  officially  sanctioned  or  tolerated.  The  Cur- 
few ordinance  should  be  in  operation  in  all  cities.  Our  police 
system  should  be  so  improved  as  to  secure  absolutely  the  en- 
forcement of  every  law  on  our  statute  books.  State  homes 
should  be  provided  for  the  reformation  and  reclamation  of  all 
public  women,  where  they  may  be  provided  with  medical  treat- 
ment and  industrial  training  that  shall  fit  them  for  future  years 
of  useful  service. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT. 

By  B.  S.  Steadwell,  Pres.  American  Purity  Federation—Editor  of 
"The  Light." 

The  Social  Evil  the  World's  Greatest  Sin— The  Purity  Movement— Origin 
and  Growth— Organized  to  battle  and  set  the  white  slaves  of  vice  free—- 
International in  Scope — The  Pledge — Organizing  branches  in  every 
church  in  the  Country — The  Purity  Movement  to  be  the  greatest  force 
in  the  World  in  a  few  years. 

In  1875  M.  Humbert,  an  eminent  Swiss  scholar,  statesman  and 
reformer,  when  speaking  against  the  state  regulation  of  vice, 
and  what  he  termed,  "  white  slavery, "  and  urging  as  the  duty 
of  democracy  the  extinction  of  prostitution,  said:  " There  is 
something  truly  mysterious  in  the  way  in  which  a  social  scourge 
makes  its  way  and  propagates  itself ;  but  what  is  still  more  as- 
tonishing, or  rather  more  admirable,  is  the  means  by  which 
Providence  puts  an  end  to  it." 

In  other  chapters  of  this  book  you  have  read  of  a  "social 
scourge,"  and  in  the  terrible  facts  related  you  have  seen  how 
it  has  made  its  way  and  propagated  itself  throughout  past 
centuries,  threatening  the  purity  of  the  children  even,  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  family,  the  safety  of  the  home,  and  of  all  that  tends 
toward  a  higher  standard  of  life  for  the  nation.  It  is  a  dark 
picture,  too  dark  for  the  human  mind  to  dwell  long  upon  with- 
out giving  way  in  despair,  unless  there  is  some  hope  for  the 
overthrow  of  this  reign  of  vice — the  social  evil — the  world's 
greatest  sin.  It  is,  therefore,  a  relief  from  this  array  of  de- 
pressing truth,  to  turn  for  a  time  to  the  study  of  a  brighter 
picture,  and  one  that  is  more  admirable,  the  purity  movement, 
which  has  for  its  purpose  the  eradication  of  public  vice  and 
the  promotion  of  personal  chastity. 

442 


THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT  443 

The  scope  of  this  chapter  will  not  admit  of  going  into  the 
history  of  the  movement,  nor  even  mention  of  most  interesting 
events  connected  with  its  origin  and  growth.  The  most  we  can 
here  hope  to  do  is  to  briefly  follow  its  growth,  state  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  it  is  founded,  and  call  attention  to  some  of 
the  organized  forces  which  are  today  so  successfully  represent- 
ing the  cause.  But  we  cannot  refrain  from  offering  a  tribute 
to  those  courageous  pioneers  of  the  movement,  who,  years  ago, 
stepped  out  from  the  deeply  beaten  paths  which  centuries  had 
decreed  that  all  must  follow,  and  proclaimed  what  has  since 
been  so  well  established,  that  there  was  no  "physical  necessity " 
for  the  social  sin,  and  therefore  the  double  standard  of  morals 
and  the  state  regulation  of  vice,  the  two  pillars  that  supported 
the  social  evil,  were  wrong  and  must  go.  No  matter  how  great 
this  movement  may  grow,  no  matter  how  completely  it  may 
attain  its  object ;  if  there  is  ever  to  be  any  glory  bestowed  upon 
the  workers  in  this  cause,  by  far  the  larger  part  must  be  given 
to  those  pioneer  men  and  women  whose  hearts  were  wrung 
by  the  atrocities  practiced  upon  the  victims  of  vice,  the  suffer- 
ing of  poor  fallen  women,  the  utter  despair  in  homes  disrupted, 
and  the  agony  of  lives  diseased  and  ruined,  and  who  chose  to 
surmount  difficulties,  endure  trial,  and  suffer  social  ostracism, 
that  they  might  battle  to  set  the  slaves  of  vice  free.  The  world 
has  never  seen  greater  sacrifice  than  that  made  by  some  of  these 
early  purity  workers.  Whoever  first  attacks  a  great  evil  in 
all  of  its  hidden  ramifications  and  secret  recesses,  must  be  pre- 
pared to  suffer  thus.  Churches  were  closed  to  them,  mobs 
awaited  them,  friends  and  relatives  deserted  them,  so-called 
science  laughed  them  to  scorn,  but  still  they  were  true,  laboring 
faithfully  on  until  today  no  movement  devoted  to  the  better- 
ment and  uplift  of  humanity  is  advancing  more  rapidly,  at- 
tracting to  its  ranks  more  eminent  supporters,  or  commanding 
the  services  of  more  devoted  and  scholarly  leaders  throughout 
the  world. 

Magdalen  homes  and  hospitals  for  the  rescue  and  reforma 
tion  of  fallen  women  have  been  in  existence  for  two  centuries 


444  THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT 

or  more;  occasionally  an  individual  has  been  known  to  devote 
more  or  less  time  to  the  same  purpose,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  any  effective  or- 
ganized force  or  concerted  movement  was  perfected  for  this 
warfare  with  lust  and  its  results.  In  1873  the  Social  Purity 
Alliance  of  Great  Britian  was  founded,  and  in  our  movement 
this  was  an  epoch-making  event.  This  society  stood  then  as 
it  stands  today  for  the  very  highest  standards  of  individual  and 
social  purity.  Two  years  later  (1875)  the  International  Federa- 
tion for  the  Abolition  of  State  Regulation  of  Vice  was  founded. 
With  both  of  these  organizations,  Mrs.  Josephine  E.  Butler,  the 
best  known  and  most  beloved  of  all  who  have  labored  for  purity, 
was  long  identified.  In  1883  the  White  Cross  movement  was 
begun  by  Et.  Eev.  Dr.  Lightfoot,  bishop  of  Durham,  and  re- 
ceived at  once  the  support  of  Miss  Ellice  Hopkins  and  other 
notable  persons.  This  movement  never  attained  any  closely 
organized  power  outside  of  Great  Britain,  but  it  succeeded  in 
formulating  a  model  pledge  that  was  used  throughout  the  civil- 
ized world,  and  this  did  more  to  direct  the  minds  of  people  to 
the  requirements  and  possibilities  of  the  pure  life  than  any- 
thing else,  if  not  all  else,  had  ever  done.  The  pledge  which  is 
yet  in  general  use,  reads  as  follows :  I  promise,  by  the  help  of 
God: 

1.  To  treat  all  women  with  respect,  and  endeavor  to  protect 
them  from  wrong  and  degradation. 

2.  To  endeavor  to  put  down  all  indecent  language  and  coarse 
jests. 

3.  To  maintain  the  law  of  purity  as  equally  binding  upon 
men  and  women. 

4.  To  endeavor  to  spread  these  principles  among  my  com- 
panions and  to  try  and  help  my  younger  brothers. 

5.  To  use  every  means  possible  to  fulfill  the  command,  "Keep 
thyself  pure." 

This  same  year  (1883)  the  purity  department  was  established 
in  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  through  the  in- 


THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT  445 

fluence  of  Miss  Frances  Willard.  Two  years  later,  1885,  the 
National  Vigilance  Association  was  founded  in  England,  an 
organization  which  has  worked  unceasingly  and  with  great  suc- 
cess for  the  death  of  the  white  slave  trade.  From  this  time  the 
cause  has  prospered  in  all  countries ;  organizations  have  sprung 
up;  reform  organizations  and  churches  have  established  de- 
partments of  purity;  men  and  women  have  consecrated  their 
lives  to  the  work;  books  by  the  hundred  have  gone  forth;  at 
least  thirty  periodicals  are  being  published,  and  every  public 
platform  sends  forth  its  messages  of  purity,  until  we  can  say 
that  the  "purity  movement "  is  solidly  established  and  is  prov- 
ing one  of  the  greatest  forces  of  the  ages  in  the  uplift  of  man 
and  the  removal  of  temptation. 

The  organized  forces  in  North  America  that  are  promoting 
the  movement  are  steadily  growing  in  strength  and  influence, 
among  those  organizations  better  known  we  mention  the  follow- 
ing: The  New  England  Watch  and  Ward  Society,  J.  Frank 
Chase,  secretary,  Boston;  New  York  Society  for  the  Suppres- 
sion of  Vice,  Anthony  Comstock,  secretary;  National  Christian 
League  for  the  Promotion  of  Social  Purity,  Elizabeth  B.  Gran- 
nis,  president,  New  York  City ;  National  Purity  Association,  J. 
B.  Caldwell,  president,  Chicago;  American  Purity  Alliance,  0. 
Edward  Janney,  president,  New  York  City ;  Northwestern  Pur- 
ity Association,  B.  S.  Steadwell,  president,  La  Crosse,  Wiscon- 
sin; International  Reform  Bureau,  Wilbur  F.  Crafts,  superin- 
tendent, Washington,  D.  C.,  American  Federation  of  Sex  Hy- 
giene, Prince  A.  Morrow,  president,  New  York  City; 
American  Institute  of  Social  Service,  Josiah  Strong, 
president,  New  York  City;  Canadian  Purity-Education 
Association,  Toronto:  National  Vigilance  Committee,  Miss 
Stover,  secretary,  New  York  City;  while  various  organiza- 
tions such  as  the  Woman 's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the  General  Federation 
of  Women's  Clubs,  the  National  Council  of  Women,  the  Inter- 
national Sunshine  Society,  International  Working  Girls'  Clubs 


446  THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT 

and  Labor  Unions  maintain  active  departments  of  some  phase 
of  purity  reform. 

The  Social  and  Moral  Reform  Council  of  Canada,  Eev.  J.  G. 
Shearer,  D.  D.,  secretary,  Toronto  ,  is  a  federation  of  the  social 
and  moral  reform  departments  of  all  the  leading  churches,  and 
temperance  and  reform  organizations  of  Canada.  This  Council 
is  recognized  generally  as  the  strongest  force  in  the  Dominion 
for  the  advancement  of  our  cause. 

The  International  American  Purity  Federation,  with  head- 
quarters at  La  Crosse,  Wisconsin,  is  composed  of  the  strongest 
organizations  in  North  America  that  are  promoting  purity  or 
fighting  the  evils  of  vice.  Two  years  ago  this  Federation  es- 
tablished individual  memberships  and  now  numbers  among  its 
members  leading  reformers  of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
The  Federation  was  formerly  organized  at  the  National  Purity 
Congress  held  in  La  Crosse  in  1905  and  was  the  direct  outcome 
of  a  similar  congress  held  in  Chicago  in  1901  which  had  been 
called  by  officials  of  the  National  Christian  League  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Purity,  the  National  Purity  Asociation,  the  American 
Purity  Alliance,  and  the  Northwestern  Purity  Association,  the 
same  officials  uniting  in  the  call  for  the  congress  at  La  Crosse 
in  1905. 

Every  marked  advance  in  the  purity  movement  during  the 
past  decade  has  been  closely  associated  with  the  Federation. 
Five  successful  International  Congresses  have  been  held,  num- 
bering from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  delegates, 
which  have  stirred  our  continent  thoroughly  on  the  movement, 
bringing  to  our  cause  great  publicity  through  the  press.  The 
Federation  does  not  believe  in  limiting  its  activities  to  parlor 
meetings  and  secret  sessions,  but  seeks  to  reach  the  largest  num- 
ber possible  with  purity  truth  given  in  a  wise  and  careful  man- 
ner. Its  official  organ  "The  Light/'  is  the  most  widely  circu- 
lated purity  magazine  in  the  world,  reaching  at  the  present  time 
fully  seventy-five  thousand  readers  in  the  United  States,  Can- 
ada, Mexico,  and  foreign  countries.  In  the  autumn  of  1910  the 
Federation  carried  out  a  most  notable  tour  of  workers ;  eighteen 


THE  GREAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT  447 

conventions  being  held  in  the  principal  cities  on  a  route  of  more 
than  seven  thousand  miles  extending  from  Chicago  through 
Western  Canada,  the  Pacific  and  Gulf  States.  Twenty-four 
persons  were  in  the  touring  party  including  leading  workers 
from  the  United  States  and  Canada.  So  successful  was  this  un- 
dertaking that  tours  are  contemplated  for  other  sections,  and 
a  world  tour  of  expert  investigators  to  ascertain  the  exact 
status  of  the  White  Slave  Trade  throughout  the  world  and  ex- 
isting conditions  as  to  vice. 

The  present  vigorous  continent-wide  movement  against  the 
White  Slave  Traffic  is  the  result  of  the  labors  of  the  late  Sidney 
C.  Kendall,  of  Los  Angeles,  California,  who  began  his  efforts 
in  a  national  sense  under  the  auspices  of  the  management  of  the 
La  Crosse  Congress  in  1904,  and  continued  his  work  under  the 
direction  of  the  American  Purity  Federation.  Eev.  Mr.  Ken- 
dall made  two  trips  completely  across  the  continent  visiting 
Washington  and  Ottawa  and  other  of  our  principal  cities.  On 
March  1,  1905,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  voted  to  adhere 
to  the  International  Agreement  for  the  Suppression  of  Trade  in 
White  Women.  This  date  is  one  of  great  importance  in  the 
history  of  our  movement.  In  1906  Mr.  Kendall  was  present 
at  the  National  Purity  Congress  in  Chicago,  and  so  aroused  the 
friends  of  the  Federation  in  Chicago  that  they  immediately  or- 
ganized for  active  warfare  against  the  traffic,  and  since  that 
time  the  real  activities  against  the  White  Slave  Trade  in  Amer- 
ica have  centered  in  Chicago.  The  International  Agreement 
or  treaty  adhered  to  by  the  Senate  in  1905,  was  proclaimed  by 
President  Roosevelt  in  June,  1908.  Again  in  June  1910  when 
the  White  Slave  Traffic  Bill  was  in  danger  of  serious  delay 
and  possible  death,  the  Federation  rendered  valuable  service. 
The  National  Legislative  Chairman  of  the  Federation,  Mr. 
James  H.  Patten  of  Boston,  who  remains  in  Washington  dur- 
ing the  sessions  of  congress,  immediately  got  support  for  pushing 
the  measure  when  he  saw  that  delay  was  purposely  intended, 
and  through  the  efforts  of  Senator  Lodge  of  Massachusetts, 
the  bill  was  passed  during  the  closing  hours  of  the  session  and 
at  once  signed  by  President  Taft. 


448  THE  GEEAT  PURITY  MOVEMENT 

That  branch  of  the  movement  operating  under  the  name  of 
"Bescue  Work,"  is  extensively  organized.  There  are  more 
than  half  a  hundred  Florence  Crittenton  Homes  and  fully  as 
many  of  the  Door  of  Hope,  offering  shelter  and  an  opportunity 
for  redemption  to  the  erring  and  outcast  girl.  Good  Shepherd 
Homes  under  the  direction  of  the  sisters  of  the  Catholic  Church 
are  maintained  in  all  of  our  larger  cities.  Very  many  inde- 
pendent homes  are  most  successfully  operated  such  as  The 
Eefuge  in  Chicago,  the  Talitha  Cumi  Home  in  Boston,  and  the 
Martha  Washington  Home  in  Wauwatosa,  Wisconsin.  It  is 
now  generally  advised  l;hat  every  state  should  establish  a  large 
home  having  hospital  and  industrial  training  departments  where 
all  girls  and  women  desiring  to  leave  lives  of  sin  may  be  offered 
a  chance  for  recuperation  and  for  fitting  themselves  for  honor- 
able self-support.  Homes  are  also  established  in  most  large 
cities  where  working  girls  may  obtain  board  and  room  with 
homelike  surroundings  at  nominal  rates,  thus  shielding  them 
from  many  of  the  temptations  of  city  life.  In  not  a  few  cities 
missionaries  are  employed  to  meet  all  trains  and  to  give  such 
help  and  advice  to  girls  who  are  traveling  as  will  protect  them 
from  the  advances  of  the  professional  procurors. 

Thus  the  organized  purity  forces  stand  unwaveringly,  con- 
quering strong  opposition,  for  all  that  makes  for  a  higher  stand- 
ard of  purity  in  the  life  of  the  individual  and  in  social  and  civic 
relations ;  creating  a  sentiment,  a  purity  literature  and  an  army 
of  well-equipped  workers  that  will  make  it  forever  impossible  to 
return  to  the  days  of  ignorance  and  prudery  that  have  existed 
on  matters  of  self  and  sex.  When  ignorance  and  prudery  on  these 
questions  have  entirely  disappeared,  when  as  high  a  standard 
for  manhood  is  demanded  as  that  which  is  now  required  for  wo- 
manhood, when  women  are  given  the  rights  which  are  theirs, 
when  this  entire  subject  is  thought  of  in  its  beauty,  purity  and 
sacredness,  rather  than  from  its  darker  side,  the  work  which  is 
now  performed  under  the  purity  movement  will  have  been  fin- 
ished, and  much  of  the  unhappiness  and  misery  which  now 
crushes  human  hearts  will  have  been  banished. 


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